Reliance Jio withdrew its 90 day free service offer on Thursday. In a press release, the company claimed that telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) asked it to withdraw the offer.

If this is true, then it raises more questions than answers.

1. The biggest question is why regulator didn’t issue a press release and explained why it asked Jio to withdraw the free tariff plan?
 

2. What is Attorney General’s (AG) opinion on free tariff? TRAI can at least tell all the stakeholders what did it ask AG and what reply did it.

3. What happened to its earlier argument of consumer interest when it allowed Jio to offer free services for more than 200 days against established norms? Why this argument is not valid now?

TRAI is the custodian of the telecom sector. Its decisions should be transparent. Hence it becomes important that the regulator can at least answer these questions.

Please read our two part series on the TRAI that appeared on April 3 and 5 for  perspective

Advantage Reliance Jio: Telecom Regulator’s recent decisions are against the spirit of TRAI Act (Part 1)

Reliance Jio effect: How TRAI decisions in last one year helped new Operator (Part 2)