Reliance Jio seeks time till December 29 to respond to TRAI's queries

Reliance Jio has sought additional time till December 29 to respond to telecom regulator Trai's query on why the extension of its free voice and data plan should not be seen as the violation of existing norms that requires promotional offers to be limited to 90 days.

Trai had written to Jio on December 20 asking it to explain within five days why the 'Happy New Year offer' should not be seen as "violation" of regulatory guidelines and also why the offer of free data under the promotional scheme should not be treated as "predatory".

According to sources, Reliance Jio has now written to Trai seeking additional time up to December 29 to send in its responses.

An e-mail sent to Reliance Jio did not elicit any response.

Last week, Trai - which is in the process of looking at Jio's new promotional offer - had said that preliminary examination of the new offer filed with it "prima facie" revealed that except for minor changes in the quantum of data in the new offer, filed with it "prima facie" revealed that except for minor changes in the quantum of data in the new offer, it seemed to be an extension of the old promotional offer beyond 90 days.

Trai has also asked Jio to give an estimated month-wise projection of the number of subscribers that are expected to be added till March 31, 2017.