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Tag: Reliance Jio

  • Comment: Reliance Industries’ telecom-media play fascinating, but complex & challenging too

    “This breakthrough and revolutionary device named JioPhone, along with Jio’s disruptive tariff, will unleash the power of Digital Life in the hands of 1.3 billion citizens of the largest democracy in the world,” Mukesh Ambani told  a gathering of about 2,000 at Reliance Industries’ 40th AGM in Mumbai last week even as thousands round the world followed his announcements online, “Jio will be the greatest accelerator of the Bharat-India connectivity. Indians even in the remotest villages will now have the same access to digital entertainment, digital learning, e- healthcare, e-banking, e-governance and real-time information that are enjoyed by those in cities like Mumbai or Delhi.”

    India and the domestic stock markets gasped as Ambani, head of one of world’s largest petrochem companies in the world unveiled sops like practically cost-free handsets (Jio Phone), free voice calls and limited-yet-very-attractive data plan for Jio phone subscribers. Setting the cat amongst the pigeons, he also announced that the 4G LTE Jio Phone handsets could be hooked to a TV set to watch streaming videos on a larger screen — an Apple TV-like or Chromecast-like devise, as the experts described it.

    The announcements — disruptive, as Ambani admitted himself  — had an immediate effect on 21 July 2017: share prices of other telcos and some market-listed DTH and MSO companies tumbled on the stock market. If people at some traditional media houses are to be believed, strategists started scouring excel sheets to examine where and how their bottomlines could get affected and what could be a flanking strategy, if at all that was needed.

    The $30 billion fourth-generation mobile network Jio, launched in September 2016, already has 100 million paying customers. The target is 500 million of those Indians who use low-end feature phones. The Jio Phone is to be available to the masses from September (beta testing starts August 2017) for free on a three-year refundable deposit of Rs. 1,500. Under the `Dhana Dhan’ plan of  Rs. 153 per month, subscribers can get unlimited data with conditions. As there will be a “fair usage policy of half a GB per day to ensure that bandwidth is fairly apportioned for every user”, as Ambani said, the `unlimited’ data may not be as free flowing as being envisaged.

    But if Jio is targeting the 500 million feature phone users in India, mostly in non-urban areas,  even Rs. 153 per month could be a bit daunting. So, there would be sachet packs of Rs. 54/week and a two-day plan for Rs. 24 that provide similar value. Jio is targeting 5 million handsets to be available every week and from last quarter of 2017 they’d be manufactured in India under Make In India programme of the present government. Talk about killing birds with a stone!

    If Ambani called the Jio project a disruptive one, he was actually telling the truth. The question is: how disruptive and what’s the trigger?

    “The answer in one word: data. The refining and petrochemicals group is changing its stripes with an audacious and expensive bet on data, which Mukesh Ambani says is `the new oil’,” a Bloomberg analyst wrote in a newspaper, adding, “Assuming half of the country’s 500 million feature-phone users switch (to Jio phones), Jio collects $6 billion interest-free for three years.”

    One would say a brilliant strategy to lock in the refundable amount for the phone and gain additional cash for expansion; not that Reliance is falling short immediately on funds.

    Now, the questions arise. Will Jio Cable TV devise impact the business of DTH and satellite TV operators’ bottomlines? Should companies like Tata Sky, Dish TV/Videocon D2h, Airtel Digital and Sun Direct be worried? Can Jio Cable TV replace the low-cost cable services provided by the likes of Siti Network, Hathway-GTPL, DEN Network, SCV, Fastway, Ortel, InCable, Nxt Digital, etc? If it’s looking to replace the present TV services — delivered via satellite, cable and telecom infrastructure (OTT) — from where will it get varied programming? Will it tie up for content with non-Reliance Industries controlled broadcasters like Star, Zee, Sony Pictures, Discovery, HBO, etc? Will the broadcasters ultimately end up paying the Jio platform for carriage of their content or Jio pay for outside content?  Or, is Jio another experiment at triple play from a company that’s sitting on piles of cash because its petrochem business is booming? 
    There are no clear answers at the moment to such posers.

    A Bank of America Merrill Lynch advisory on 21 July 2017 while analyzing and lauding some aspects of the Jio announcements (smaller telco names losing their “value proposition” of lower priced voice offering, is one such observation) pointed out, “We do not see today’s announcement as being negative for Dish (one of India’s largest DTH operator from the Zee group now in the process of merging another operator Videocon D2h with itself), as the announced plan caps the TV viewing to 3-4 hours per day, which will prevent users to switch to Jio Phone TV. However, we do see long term DTH ARPU growth coming under pressure from the offer and related developments.”
    This brings us to the question of content on various Jio networks. Remember, the company has been testing its MSO services and has dropped hints about a DTH service too whose nature of delivery is not yet clear.

    At the moment, RIL controls 53 television channels and several digital media properties, all of them housed across Network18 and joint venture Viacom18. Apart from these, RIL’s media arms are also the “partner of choice in India” (Ambani’s words) for leading global brands such as CNBC, CNN and Forbes magazine.
    The combined Network18 channels on an average reach over 500 million viewers every week, Ambani claimed, adding with digitization of the media business and expansion of mobile broadband and fixed broadband connectivity, driven by Jio, the media and entertainment part of RIL’s business empire has “exponential growth potential in the future”.

    While RIL was preparing to announce its revolutionary Jio phone and bundled services at mind-numbing price points, it had already stitched up a deal with one of India’s biggest and best content producers, Balaji Telefilms Ltd.(BTL), for a stake that was a shade under 25 per cent at a cost of Rs. 4133 million. BTL said that the proceeds from the transaction would be used to up content development, especially for ALT Balaji (the OTT platform).

    Balaji had already integrated the ALT app with JioMoney, the mobile wallet from Reliance Payment Solutions, earlier this year to provide digital transaction experience to its subscribers. RIL’s stake in Balaji may force the content producer to change its content strategy to tailor it more to Reliance’s needs. Similar strategic stakes in some other content producing companies cannot be ruled out in future as also taking control of a financially-beleaguered broadcasting company having a few on-air TV channels.

    So, 53 up and running TV channels of various hues and in several Indian languages, combined with Balaji’s content generating prowess, does give RIL access to quite a big content library to push on its Jio Phone platform. Even if for limited viewing on cheap data packs.

    Pointing out that Reliance Jio capex will reduce drastically going forward, a former asset manager at a Mumbai brokerage firm opined that RIL already has 100 million+ paying Jio subs, it has access to the technology, content and capital and, more importantly, got management bandwidth, which all combine to become a heady cocktail for any successful telecoms-media company — a la Comcast or Netflix or a media behemoth that has the potential of ruling the waves.

    But a behemoth is also more prone to questions from regulatory regimes; especially in a country like India where prevalence of multiple languages make the job of a regulator to define monopoly that much more difficult.

    And, that brings us to our last important issue that Reliance Jio phone and allied services raise: monopoly and potential discrimination. Since Jio is bundling several apps and services, critics observe, it’s already started to build a `paid-for walled garden’. Will such a `garden’ be against Net Neutrality — an issue that’s being presently studied by Indian telecoms and broadcast regulator TRAI? An arrangement between Facebook and Anil Ambani-controlled Reliance Telecommunications forinternet.org or free Internet was struck down by TRAI in 2015 giving a major setback to the social media giant.

    Questions, questions and more questions. So, we’d leave it here presently with straws in the wind. But the head of an MSO company, on condition of anonymity, aptly summed up the Reliance’s telecom-media play: “The threat has arrived, though these are early days to say as to who will get hurt.”
      
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  • India’s 400 mn smartphones generate 80% data traffic: FB’s Umang Bedi

    MUMBAI: India has 400 million smart phones that account for 80 per cent of internet data traffic at present and when many non-feature phones will start getting replaced or include features facilitating internet access, it will change the way how data is accessed, according to Facebook managing director, India & South Asia, Umang Bedi.

    Speaking at the IAMAI event here on Tuesday, Bedi, while highlighting how over a decade back (united) Reliance brought in revolution in India by introducing cheap mobile handsets and competitive plans for consumers, said the launch of Jio service by Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Industries earlier this year is bringing about a similar revolution by employing disruptive marketing tactics and pricing that is again changing the way India consumes data.

    Bedi, who was speaking extempore at the event, said there are three Indias that needs watching and from where growth likely to come.

    The first India, he mentioned, is the one that subscribes to books on e-retailers like Amazon, shops on Flipkart and rides on Ola cabs rides, which is similar to what is happening in the West. According to Bedi, India today is a growing digital market registering a 35 per cent growth worth USD 1.8-2.8 billion.

    The second India, according to Bedi, is the mass India that lives in tier 2 and 3 cities /towns where people have money and aspirations but no access to affordable Internet. And, the third India comprises about 25 million people living in rural areas for whom new solutions and methods to reach them are needed. Reason: It’s this huge mass that will become a big consuming market in near future.

    As disruption seemed to be the underlying theme of the digital economy, Bedi dwelt on the disrupters theory, fathered by Clayton Christensen, saying disruption is happening in the digital sector and it’s being done by the likes of Amazon (from selling books to etailing electronics appliances, smart phones, etc) and Uber.

    Pointing out that Amazon and Uber were the “biggest disrupters” in today’s world, Bedi also issued a warning to all marketers saying that unless business people remained “humble”, they themselves may find disrupted.

  • CCI rejects Airtel charges against Jio

    MUMBAI: The fair trade regulator has dismissed the case of ‘predatory pricing’ that Airtel alleged against Reliance Jio. Airtel officials declined to comment on the development.

    Just giving free access to its services cannot be termed as ‘anti-competitive’, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) stated.

    Airtel had alleged that Jio, in a bid to race ahead in the telecom competition, had indulged in ‘predatory pricing’ since its commercial launch on 5 September 2016.

    With unfair trade practice of free services, Airtel alleged, Jio had used its financial muscle to gain a foothold into the telecom world of stiff competition.

    Airtel charges, the trade regulator stated, would not be considered ‘anti-competitive’ since Jio’s offers were to attract customers.

    A short-term business offer or strategy of a new entrant to penetrate a market cannot be considered as ‘anti-competitive’ in nature and could not be a subject of investigation, CCI stated.

  • Telcos can’t discriminate tariffs in same category

    MUMBAI: Telecom regulator TRAI has directed telecom operators to stop providing discriminatory tariffs to the subscribers of the same category and report all plans to the sector watchdog within seven days of their launch.

    The decision, signed by KaushaI Kishore, advisor (F&EA), comes soon after Reliance Jio’s complaint against other players, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.

    Jio had filed complaint against Bharti Airtel in April saying the telecom major contravened tariff rules by releasing misleading offers and arbitrarily discriminating among its own consumers subscribing to the same plan. Bharti Airtel spokesperson had denied the allegations saying the company was fully complying with all regulatory guidelines, including tariff orders.

    TRAI has now said that all the tariffs offered to the consumers shall be in accordance with the provisions of Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999 and shall not be discriminatory between the subscribers of the same class and to ensure that every tariff that is offered to a customer is invariably reported to the Authority.

    TRAI said it has the duty to notify in the Official Gazette the rates at which the telecommunication services within India and outside India shall be provided under the TRAI Act, 1997. The Authority may notify different rates for different persons or class of persons for similar telecommunication services and where different rates are flxed.

    The Authority, while adopting the forbearance regime in tariff, has made it mandatory for all the service providers to file their tariffs with TRAI within seven working days from the date of implementation of the said tariff;

    No exception/exemption has been granted for tariff reporting except for bulk customers and, in that case too, it is compulsory for all service providers to provide details about the number of plans and the bulk customers availing them along with a certification, for information and record of the Authority.

  • Jio DTH & Airtel ‘hybrid’ reports gain currency

    MUMBAI: Although there is no confirmation, Reliance Jio seems to be gearing up to enter the DTH space in India this month after disrupting the telecom landscape.

    Jio it seems may not be alone in the new business as Airtel too is reportedly looking to take on Jio’s IPTV based DTH with its hybrid DTH STB service. The impact however will depend on the STB features.

    After much speculation over a few weeks, this time some images of Jio set-top-box have surfaced — exposing the box design. Some reports stated that Jio STB, powered through Jio broadband with up to 1 Gbps speed, would have a rounded design and an upgraded version of the available DTH boxes.

    The leaked pictures the Jio STBs show a USB port at rear and front side. This presumably will help consumers to connect a pen drive and may be watch stored movies and videos directly — without an internet connection.

    This feature exists in smart TVs, but the earlier TV sets do not have it — the market for Jio DTH.

    The leaked images also show an RJ45 port that helps connect to Net and have movies, live streaming and listen to music online. The Jio box also seems to have an AV port, HDMI port, a 12-volt power port, and a cable port at the rear.

    The Jio STB is expected to be based on Android and Jio will help outdoor customer premise equipment (CPE) connected to a Jio tower and attached to the STB. Jio is also preparing to give wiring via optical fibre cable, instead of CPE, in some areas.

    Airtel’s high-tech hybrid too reportedly works on the same principle. Airtel will use the fibre to home (FTTH) service to connect the STBs, allowing viewers to stream content online.

  • TRAI rejects complaint against free promos, says consumer comes first

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Commission’s contention that free promotional offers are responsible for the industry’s falling financial health and lower licence fee payments to the government has been rejected by the regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

    TRAI’s response is expected to be sent to the Commission next week.

    The response to the Commission’s letter dated 23 February 2017 on the lines that tariff and tariff orders, solely under the regulator’s purview, need to be seen in the broader context of consumer interest.

    TRAI feels it is responsible for tariffs and anyone having an objection is free to approach the telecom tribunal TDSAT, TRAI sources said.

    In any event, TRAI feels that the government’s objective cannot be revenue maximisation. Higher tariffs can lead to greater accruals for the government from licence fee, but there is social obligation. So, revenue reduction should not been seen with a myopic view, but in the context of larger policy objectives and long—term interest of consumers, the sources said.

    Stressing that competition in the telecom sector had resulted in better tariffs and services for consumers, the source said, “competition may be disruptive, but it also leads to cheaper tariffs for consumers“.

    Defending its stance on allowing Reliance Jio to extend the promotional offers, the source said, “TRAI had sought the Attorney General’s opinion on the matter, and the latter has also opined that TRAI was correct in not blocking the offers“.

    Last month, the inter—ministerial body Telecom Commission in a letter to TRAI had warned of a loan default by operators and asked the regulator to revisit its tariff orders and free promotional offers of firms like Reliance Jio.

    The then Telecom Secretary J S Deepak, who headed the Telecom Commission, had written to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman R S Sharma about the “serious impact” of promotional offers on the financial health of the sector and the capability of the companies to meet their contractual commitments, including payment of instalments for spectrum purchased, and repayment of loans.

    Reliance Jio rolled out free voice and data under two promotional offers — Jio Welcome Offer and the Happy New Year offer.

    The Telecom Commission’s letter had noted that licence fee collections for the current fiscal have been showing “alarming” downward trend on a quarter—to—quarter basis.

    “These collections have fallen from Rs 39.75 billion in Q1 to Rs 35.84 billion in Q2 to Rs Rs 31.86 billion in Q3. It is expected that this revenue will further decline in Q4 by about 8 to10 per cent. The annual spectrum usage charge revenues are also likely to face a similar decline,” the TC letter had said.

  • Jio says Ookla has admitted to flaws in speed measurement system

    NEW DELHI: This is one ad war that refuses to die. Even after Jio on the one hand and Airtel and Ookla on the other have had their say, the argument goes on.

    In yet another statement by Reliance Jio, it has been stated that Ookla has now admitted to ‘limitations in its application and that it “does not always indicate the actual data provider in devices with multiple SIMs.” 

    Jio has already filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Council of India about the ad by Airtel claiming on the basis of Ookla to be the fastest network.

    Both Bharti Airtel and Ookla had issued statements seeking to defend the claim. 

    Jio said: “Jio had been repeatedly pointing out this flaw in Ookla’s Speedtest methodology.” 

    It added: “This admission by Ookla reinforces Jio’s submission that there is a clear contamination in primary data collected by Ookla in India, where nearly 90 percent of smartphones are dual SIM devices.” 

    “Any results that are based on incorrect and contaminated primary data cannot be definitive, only probabilistic. It is a travesty that such results are being passed off as “official” results by a market-leading operator. We will continue to expose such misleading practices and raise it at suitable forums”, Jio added.

    Ookla had said, “The carrier displayed in the Speedtest Android application is based on the “Active Carrier” value returned by the device. Due to limitations of the Android platform, the “Active Carrier” does not always indicate the actual data provider in devices with multiple SIMs. In these situations, Ookla applies additional data sources and mechanisms during post-processing to help determine the actual data carrier being tested. 

    Jio in a statement yesterday had said: “The core issue is that the speedtest results are attributed to the primary sim even though the sim for which the data speedtest is conducted is the secondary sim in the case of dual-sim phones. In India, more than 90% of 4G phones are dual-sim. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the speed which is attributed to Airtel is of the Airtel data network. We are surprised that Ookla in its press release has not talked about this issue even though they had acknowledged the blunder to us earlier. Ookla has baldly stated that they stand by their results and has skirted the main issue. We will initiate actions as we deem fit at appropriate forums. The public should not be misled by these false claims based on the Ookla results.”

    Earlier yesterday morning, Speedtest (Ookla’s app) COO Jamie Steven said in a statement: “When analysing markets like India, we take many factors into consideration, including dual SIM devices, network technology, device types, and more. In addition to what the user sees on their mobile application as they take a test in real-time, we apply a rigorous methodology when aggregating the data which uses a variety of internal data sources that control for potential variability in the market.”  

    Also Read:

    Airtel hits back at Reliance Jio, Ookla stands by its findings

  • Airtel hits back at Reliance Jio, Ookla stands by its findings

    NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel today accused Reliance Jio of making a deliberate attempt to “malign the brand” and “misguide customers.”

    A day after Reliance Jio wrote to the Advertising Standards Council of India against Airtel’s advertisement claiming it was officially the fastest network based on a finding by Ookla, Bharti Airtel chief brand officer Rajiv Mathrani said the company is “rather amused” by the allegations being made against its campaign.

    Meanwhile, Ookla has stood by its earlier finding about mobile internet speed. “Ookla fully stands behind Airtel being named ‘India’s Fastest Mobile Network’,” Speedtest (Ookla’s app) COO Jamie Steven said in a statement. Ookla has named Airtel as the “Fastest Mobile Network” in India based on data from Q3 and Q4 of 2016 which has been challenged by Reliance Jio.

    Jio had alleged that the advertisement was “misleading”, and done in “mala fide manner in collusion with” Ookla.

    Jio also alleged that Ookla, the owner of Speedtest app, charges money for giving such awards and the company has also approached Jio for the same for the very quarter it issued certificate of fastest mobile network to Bharti Airtel.

    But, Steven said: “When analysing markets like India, we take many factors into consideration, including dual SIM devices, network technology, device types, and more. In addition to what the user sees on their mobile application as they take a test in real-time, we apply a rigorous methodology when aggregating the data which uses a variety of internal data sources that control for potential variability in the market.”

    He alleged that “this is a deliberate attempt to malign our brand and misguide customers through a campaign of misinformation, which is something we now come across on a regular basis, in particular, on social media platforms.”

  • Censorship and extremism worry content creator even as tech helps: Uday Shankar

    MUMBAI: Star India chief Uday Shankar today said while the distance that India has travelled in just one year in adopting internet based behavior is nothing short of remarkable, he was sad that ‘our censor authorities seem to be getting more and more conservative’ as the world gets bolder.

    Speaking at the inauguration of the three-day FICCI FRAMES, Shankar said that “the openness of the internet was supposed to lead to greater plurality of opinions, instead it has created a violent polarity” and a “forced extremism on every matter that has made gray the least acceptable colour in all discourse. As a society we have raised the stakes of every argument to narrowly legal and brutally physical consequences. There seems to be no room left to have civil debates and no place for those who disagree.”

    Clearly expressing a viewpoint that pained the creator of content, he asked: “But can we lay all the blame on the Censor Board itself? In my view the Board generally reflects the dominant consensus of our society and there are increasingly more bodies, mostly self-appointed, who have taken upon themselves the task of censoring media content. The refrain seems to be – I don’t like the legend or the myth on which your story is based, so I will burn down your sets. I don’t like a character, so I will not let you release your film. If you say you are going to do a show of busting fake godmen and gangsters, there is pre-emptive action. And what is becoming alarming now is that sometimes even the forums that you would seek redressal at are more inclined to bless the streetside censorship than speak for the freedom of expression.”

    Extending his argument, he said: “Punishment for disagreement seems to have become the norm. The institutions tasked with protecting expression and plurality, seem to be at loggerheads with the objective itself. By creating elaborate formal ceremonies around it, are we taking the joy out of one of the most loved and celebrated lyrics in our country i.e. our National Anthem? What’s frightening is that the court order has just become yet another weapon in the hands of any goon who is keen to stamp his authority. We are rapidly descending into a mindset where the most critical objective of a work of art is to make sure that it offends nobody no matter how many thematic or creative compromises it has to make.”

    He regretted that the “most worrying part” was that creative minds have begun to self-censor their thoughts and have started killing ideas before they germinate so as to avoid any conflict. “And that is really frightening. The advocates of this vandalism claim that unique measures must be taken to protect our unique culture.”

    However, Shankar said India appeared to be moving fast towards a digital dividend rather than a digital divide. “Personally I find predicting the future to be a tricky business -especially when it involves adoption of new technology. Just a year ago, at this very venue, there was a lively discussion on digital adoption. In less than a year, we are past that tipping point in this country. The distance that India has travelled in adopting internet based behaviour is nothing short of remarkable.”

    From buying goods and services to ordering in, India is now one of the largest markets for mobile applications – be it by volumes of downloads, consumption of video or e-commerce, for which it has already emerged as the next frontier.

    On the other hand, he said the conversation last year was about how many more unicorn start-ups will we see; this year it is about how many lame horses will have to be put down. “Fortunately, the digital story for the M&E sector continues to look exciting and it is already the next big destination for the global digital giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime. The stories of bottomless war-chests may or may not be hyperbole, but, it does give us a sense of the competition that they see from home-grown digital enterprises like Hotstar, Voot and the others.”

    He was confident that there will be a lot more lively activity on this front. The technology that has been introduced in this country is as good if not better than the best in the world. Combined with the reset in costs and quality benchmarks led by Reliance Jio, this has driven the adoption by the Indian consumer at a breathtaking pace.

    But while we celebrate this rapid growth, he said that in 2015-16 the Central Board of Film Certification refused certification to 77 movies. This number was 47 in 2014-15 and only 23 in the year before.

    As an example, he said the movie ‘Jolly LLB – 2’ had to be screened for a group of lawyers and medical professionals who were to decide whether the scenes were appropriate or whether they insulted any profession or institution. “This was despite the fact that the movie had been certified for universal release by the censor board.”

    He said there was a long list of instances “where the creative community has been bullied into changing its output to suit the needs of someone or the other in India. It seems that there are always people lurking in the shadows. Their sole job is to stretch and explore every piece of content that could be potentially offensive to someone.”

    He said the openness of the internet was supposed to lead to greater plurality of opinions, instead it has created a violent polarity.

    Referring to extremist reactions to creative works, he said: “We seem to be following the script that Hollywood had written almost 100 years ago. In the early part of the 20th century, Hollywood had decided to self-regulate itself. It adopted a production code and insisted on its enforcement for almost 25 years. The code covered the use of profanity like hell and damn, any suggestive nudity, wilful offense of any nation, race or creed and any ridicule of the clergy among other things. Doesn’t it sound familiar? The similarity with our own moral code is striking to say the least. Interestingly, television that was just arriving in American homes then, emerged as the challenger to this regime. Along with European cinema that came into the US, television buried this regressive moral code. The question today is – will digital play the same role for our generation and our country? The role of a progressive challenger, the role of providing a bigger canvas to creativity and creating a space for dissenting points of view. This new medium has the ability to truly democratize broadcasting. It offers the creative community the rare opportunity to rethink from scratch their art and how it is communicated. Only when modern technology and contemporary creativity truly come together, will we create a compelling and powerful media and entertainment offering.

    Those present included High Commissioner Nadir Patel and Mayor John Tory, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Ajay Mittal, and Department of Commerce Joint Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey,

  • Jio takes Airtel to ASCI over network speed ad

    NEW DELHI: The telecom war between Reliance Jio and other telecom service providers took a new turn when a complaint was lodged with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) against broadband tester Ookla’s network speed test that said Bharti Airtel has the fastest network speed.

    A letter sent by Reliance Jio to the self-regulatory advertising body ASCI said: “The claim of Airtel that it is India’s fastest network is false, misleading and incorrect. The claim is being made by Airtel acting in a mala fide manner in collusion with Ookla LLC, who profess to be experts in the domain space of testing mobile internet speed.”

    Reliance Jio, which is the latest entrant in the field but has over 100 million subscribers, has also separately served a legal notice to Ookla for what it has termed as its “flawed” test, according to an IANS report.

    Claiming that Ookla does not have any accreditation from the Indian government, Jio said It also stated that Ookla is not a “not-for-profit” organisation. “It charges money for its services used by telecom companies for their internal consumption, and charges additional consideration” for awarding certificates “that may be used by such companies for external consumption, marketing and publicity”.

    “Without prejudice to the above, in any event, the way the award is being projected misleads the public into believing that Airtel has the fastest network today, that is when the advertisements are being aired/published,” the letter said.

    “Even in the past, Airtel has been guilty of making attempts to use such titles and proclamations,” the letter states.

    In its reaction, an Airtel spokesperson reiterated that “Airtel has been rated as India’s fastest mobile network by Ookla — the global leader in broadband testing and web-based network diagnostic applications.”