Reliance Jio has dismissed Bharti Airtel’s recent complaint to the regulator about the Mukesh Ambani-led telco allegedly unleashing predatory offers of live TV channels with its JioFiber home broadband plans, calling the move a deliberate, malicious attempt to defame Jio’s consumer-friendly tariffs and protect its narrow interests.

“Airtel’s sole grouse is that JioFiber is offering reasonable tariffs to customers….all its unsubstantiated claims of predation, non-level playing field, non-compliance with TTO (Telecommunications Tariff Order) and NTO (New Tariff Order) are just woven around this singular theme, and this complaint (to Trai) should be dismissed simply on the ground of being a frivolous attempt to protect its narrow interests,” Jio said in the letter, dated April 6, to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), countering Airtel’s complaint.

Jio has also asked Trai to warn Airtel from filing frivolous complaints in the future, IANS reported from New Delhi.

Airtel said in a letter to Trai that JioFiber’s backup plans threaten to disrupt the playing field in the DTH (direct-to-home) digital TV industry, smack of predatory pricing, and are in violation of Trai’s NTO pricing laws.

According to the company’s letter to Trai, the JioFiber backup tariff plans are a sincere attempt by Jio to connect all consumers to fiber optics technology, and it is clear that the product offering is limited to connectivity services and does not directly include any subscription to OTT applications or any broadcasting services.

However, it stated that subscribers can access apps using an OTT set-top box offered by Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL) – Jio’s parent company – by subscribing to add-on packs.

“JPL, as an aggregator, provides a user interface in the form of another OTT app known as JioTV plus, which collates all OTT channels/content available to a subscriber under his JioFiber subscription and on other free video sharing apps like YouTube and makes the same available together,” Jio wrote to Trai.

As a result, Jio noted that JPL only provides access to TV channels as an aggregator via OTT application, not otherwise, as claimed by Airtel, and hence the latter’s allegation is without merit.

Furthermore, Jio stated that all available broadcasters’ applications allow internet access to their live channels on their OTT apps. “By the customer’s subscription to OTT apps in addition to JioFiber services, they get access to these channels on OTT apps as well, which is consistent with current market practice, even if Airtel does not follow it.”

Customers can access these channels through the JioTV Plus app, which launches the channel in the OTT app, according to Jio.

Jio also maintained in its letter to the regulator that providing TV channels on OTT applications is a legitimate activity, citing the information and broadcasting ministry’s clarification on the applicability of FDI policy for OTT Platforms.

Jio claims that Airtel is worrying about probable predation of its DTH service while knowing that third-party OTT material is available via OTT applications after proper subscription, in addition to Jio’s JioFiber services. “Airtel is referring (to) clauses from the Telecommunication Tariff Order (TTO) to justify alleged predation and is desperately attempting to mix different regulations to make an invalid point, (which is why) its complaint should be summarily dismissed,” Jio said to Trai.