Jio denies back-up broadband plans harm DTH market

Photo used for representational purpose only.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Reliance Jio denied claims that its ‘back-up broadband’ offering threatened the broadcast market, in a letter sent to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The April 6 response, of which The Hindu has viewed a copy, dismissed Bharti Airtel’s allegation that the inexpensively priced broadband offering — introduced in conjunction with the Indian Premier League — was encroaching upon the television broadcast market.

“A close reading of the complaint letter would clearly establish that Airtel’s sole grouse is that Jio Fiber is offering reasonable tariffs to customers,” Jio wrote in the response letter.

Bharti Airtel had argued that Jio’s broadband offering was bundling livestream of TV channels, threatening the DTH distribution market. Jio countered that providing such streams were an acceptable industry practice, and that live feeds of some of these channels come from broadcasters’ own streaming apps, which are only aggregated in the JioTV app.

Additionally, Jio argued, Bharti Airtel was mixing different regulatory regimes, as streaming channels live on the internet is an accepted practice. The firm argued that pricing its back-up broadband offering at a low rate was not grounds for Bharti Airtel to complain, adding that users would have to pay for five months in advance.

 “It is worthwhile to mention here that while RJIL believes that there is no need to regulate non-communication OTT services, nevertheless, if at all any change in position regarding regulating OTTs is to be taken, it would have to be a holistic decision encompassing the whole spectrum of OTT services and not just a particular subset,” Jio said.