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(Add comment from Airtel, source)
By Sankalp Phartiyal
MUMBAI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - India's telecoms regulator onFriday recommended the top three network operators be fined acombined 30.5 billion rupees ($455 million), saying they weredenying new entrant Reliance Jio sufficient interconnectionpoints.
Jio is part of Reliance Industries Ltd, controlledby India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani. It began offering 4Gservices in September, triggering a war over network points thatconnect Jio customers with Bharti Airtel Ltd, VodafonePlc's India subsidiary and Idea Cellular Ltd.
Responding to Jio's complaints over the denial of points ofinterconnection (POI), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI) recommended a fine of 500 million rupees per telecom zonefor each of the three operators.
Airtel and Vodafone India were fined for 21 zones each whileIdea was fined for 19 zones. India has 22 telecoms zones orcircles.
The denial of POI to Jio "appears to be with ulterior motiveto stifle competition and is anti-consumer", TRAI said in astatement.
Reliance Jio did not respond to an email seeking commentwhile Vodafone and Idea declined comment.
"We are continuously augmenting the POIs provided toReliance Jio and the pace of augmentation has been the fastestever done by us," a spokesman for Airtel said.
"Further, we are in full compliance of the requirements ofGrade of Service set by TRAI."
The federal government's Department of Telecom is expectedto take up the issue of fines with the three telcos, and if amutual arrangement is not arrived at the companies can seeklegal recourse, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
($1 = 66.9126 Indian rupees) (Additional reporting by Promit Mukherjee; editing by DavidClarke/Ruth Pitchford)
