Vodafone India to increase the points of interconnect (PoIs) with Reliance Jio

After Airtel and Idea Cellular, Vodafone India has become the latest incumbent operator to agree to increase the points of interconnect (PoIs) with Reliance Jio Infocomm. Vodafone has decided to triple its interconnection capacity with Reliance Jio network.

“Following guidance from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and clarifications from Jio regarding its commercial launch, Vodafone India has decided to increase the points of interconnect (POIs) between the two operators by thrice and accordingly, increase the capacity to connect,” Vodafone India said in a statement.

Incumbent carriers were initially defiant to release sufficient interconnection ports. They were demanding higher inter-connection charges compared with 14 paise they get for each incoming mobile call on their networks.

Reliance Jio has claimed that the situation on its network has deteriorated significantly in the last few weeks due to insufficient PoIs, with over 75 calls failing out of every 100 call attempts. Over 22 crores calls have failed on the Airtel network while 52 crores have failed cumulatively on the networks of the three incumbent operators — Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea in about last 10 days.

TRAI has indicated that it will take strong action against telecom operators found responsible for poor quality of service.

“Vodafone India has always provided points of interconnect (PoIs) to other operators for all their fair, reasonable and legitimate requirements and will continue to do so. Vodafone is hopeful that all issues it has raised with TRAI and Jio will be duly considered and resolved at the earliest,” stated Vodafone India in a press release.

“To create a truly connected, inclusive and Digital India, it is vital to have a level—playing field between providers offering the same service, encourage innovations and judiciously use a portfolio of technologies - 2G, 3G, and 4G to service the evolving needs of consumers across the country,” said Vodafone India.

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