In a strongly worded statement, Bharti Airtel today categorically denied Reliance Jio’s statements in which the Mukesh Ambani LED company accused Airtel of not providing enough point of interconnections.
“Following the bilateral discussions on September 13, 2016, Airtel agreed to release the additional PoIs to Jio on the same day itself and raised the demand notes on September 14, 2016. With the latest augmentation, the total number of PoIs provided will become three times the present number of PoIs. This capacity will be sufficient to serve over 15 million customers, which is much more than their present subscriber base and their demand for 10 million projected customers,” Airtel said in a press statement.
“Airtel has ensured that there are no capacity constraints from its end. In fact, Airtel has been providing PoIs to Jio, well ahead of the commencement of its commercial operations,” it further added.
Airtel went on to allege that Jio is blaming other operators to cover up its own technical issues.
“The additional PoIs now need to be physically connected and tested by both parties. We have already requested Jio’s cooperation in this regard. Airtel’s network teams across circles are ready and waiting for Jio to commence the testing. However, it is Jio that seems to be dilly-dallying on the issue and not cooperating deliberately. It appears that the constant rhetoric may be a ploy by Jio to cover up some technical issues in their own network, which is causing call failures, by constantly blaming other operators,” the Airtel statement read.
Airtel further added, “In addition, call drops or the lack of VoLTE stabilization should not be hidden behind the issue of POIs, which are being augmented at regular and quick intervals.”
Airtel said that it is processing all MNP requests as per guidelines. “Airtel ports-in and ports-out thousands of customers every day from across operators, and the allegation of blocking 69 odd port out requests from Jio sounds rather flimsy,” Airtel said.