Jio Cashback On Rs 399 Recharge Officially Challenged By COAI

The war between Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Jio has again resumed, this time on the delicate issue of ‘cashback’, which Jio has just announced.

This time, COAI has directly complained to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI, and asked them to check whether Jio is violating any rules or not.

How will Jio respond now?

COAI: Jio Cashback Is Breaking Rules!

COAI, which is a powerful lobby of all telecom operators, has accused that Jio is violating rules created by TRAI by offering cashback on recharge of Rs 399 and above.

Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said,

“If the offer is in the nature of cash back, the question arises as to what conditions attach to receiving the cash back. Is this another way of discounting the service cost?,”

Under this special triple cashback offer, Jio is offering cashbacks upto Rs 2599 on recharge of Rs 399 or above.

And this cashback includes vouchers from ecommerce portals such as AmazonPay, AxisPay, FreeCharge, Mobikwik, Paytm and PhonePe as well, which is a first for the industry.

This cashback offer is valid between November 10th and November 25th.

COAI has asked TRAI to look into this issue, and issue clarifications.

Meanwhile, TRAI Chairman RS Sharma has said that they are looking into all offers, and will respond accordingly. He said, “We routinely examine the offers and we will continue to do so,..”

Interestingly, Jio had offered similar cashback during Diwali as well, which had no issues with COAI, probably because all other telecom players were offering similar cashbacks.

COAI vs Jio: The Battle Continues

Although COAI has all the leading telecom players as members, which includes Jio, they have been specially vocal against Jio for their disruptive offers and massive cashbacks earlier as well.

In fact, last year, the battle become so intensified, that Prime Minister’s office was involved in it.

On the issue of Interconnect Usage Charges and Jio’s free services, COAI had written directly to PMO, accusing Jio of conducting business in an unfair manner.

Later, TRAI had to intervene, and remind COAI and Jio that consumers’ interests should be the first priority for all telcos.

COAI had earlier accused TRAI of partiality, when they had reduced IUC charges, a move which they claimed would benefit Jio other than any other telecom player.

We will keep you posted, as we receive more updates regarding this new battle between COAI and Jio, over recharge cashbacks.

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