Point of Interconnection is not even an issue anymore, says Airtel

The issue of Point of Interconnect (PoI) has been on the surface since Reliance Jio was launched. Reliance Jio has been complaining about the lack of PoIs and in their defence, incumbent telecos have been claiming to provide enough POIs. This has been going on for way too long and now the matter seems to be dying.

Bharti Airtel feels the issue regarding PoIs between Jio and other telecos isn’t even an issue anymore because Reliance Jio has been provided with enough PoIs within past few weeks. The market leader also said that it is in the process of explaining the situation to Telecom Department and TRAI.

TRAI recommended a steep penalty of Rs 1,050 crore in Airtel, regarding this PoI issue.

According to Airtel India and South Asia CEO Gopal Vittal, the company has already provided PoI at a fast pace, but in some cases there were issues of transmission from Jio’s end.

"In literally five weeks we've released thousands and thousands of PoIs, we've never done that in the past 20 years. We believe it's a non-issue because it's an obligation for us to provide PoIs... We provided 2.5 times PoIs than any other player in the market," Vittal told ET.

He also said that Jio’s entry bundled plans would lead to a greater proportion of such plans being brought to the market but there are still several customers who demand voice and data separately.