 "COAI asked to leave Trai meeting")
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the industry body representing all GSM operators, was asked to leave the meeting called by the telecom regulator to resolve the issue of interconnect.
On Thursday, the lobby group for GSM operators has written to the regulator requesting it to not limit the meeting only to the top three operators as it was an industry issue. On Friday, Jio insisted that the director general of COAI Rajan Mathews leave the meeting. A statement released by the industry body said, "COAI has been kept out of the TRAI meeting at the insistence of RIL Jio, and TRAI acquiesced to their demand in an unprecedented manner."
So far, Jio has been saying that the big three are abusing their dominant position. But COAI has brought on board the rest of the industry as far as granting interconnection to Jio is concerned. In its letter to TRAI on Thursday had COAI said: "We believe that the issue pertains to all members of COAI and not limited to the three operators. We, therefore, request TRAI to invite all members of COAI for this meeting."