Photo:New Delhi: Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd has asked the telecom department to withhold approval for Bharti Airtel Ltd’s acquisition of Tikona Digital Networks Pvt. Alternatively, Reliance Jio suggested the telecom department refund Rs1,658 crore it paid for migrating to UL to ensure a level playing field. An ISP licence holder can only provide data services to customers. In the letter to the telecom department, Jio also alleged that Airtel has exploited this gap in guidelines in 2013 when it merged with Airtel Broadband Services Pvt. “We submit that Airtel is attempting the same strategy for the proposed Tikona acquisition as well,” the Jio letter said.

Source: Mint May 16, 2017 17:15 UTC