NEW DELHI: Amid growing scrutiny over Bharti Airtel’s 5G Priority Postpaid service, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday met executives of the telecom operator to understand its new offering, according to three people aware of the matter.
The meeting, attended by more than 10 Trai officials including three principal advisors across departments, comes amid concerns within the telecom industry over whether network-slicing based premium services could create preferential access for high-paying users at the expense of prepaid subscribers.
During the meeting, the regulator sought clarity on Airtel’s use of the term “fast lane” technology to describe the priority postpaid plans on its website. Discussions also covered whether the service violates net-neutrality rules and if it could affect service quality for non-priority users.
“Trai is looking at the issue from all angles,” one of the people cited above said.
The company had also not submitted details of the new offering to the regulator as of Wednesday evening, according to two people cited above.
Trai rules require operators to inform the regulator about new plans or changes to the existing one within seven working days so it can assess pricing and fairness. On 19 May, Bharti Airtel launched its Priority Postpaid service using 5G slicing technology, which allows operators to divide network capacity into virtual lanes for different categories of users, including enterprise clients and priority customers.
The move has revived net-neutrality concerns, with experts arguing that premium fast lanes for some users could leave ordinary prepaid users on more congested parts of the network because of India’s limited mobile internet capacity.
An Airtel executive, on the condition of anonymity, said the company has followed every single rule and there has been no tariff change. The telecom operator has also denied any “experience degradation for any customer on Airtel due to this feature” in its submissions to the government.
“There have been meetings with the government and the regulator. We are willing to have appropriate guardrails wherever required and share any information or data with the government,” the executive said, adding that the operator will never allow any degradation of service quality for prepaid users as the same constitutes 88% of its revenue.
Queries emailed to Trai, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio earlier on Thursday did not elicit any response till the press time.
Industry divided
During Wednesday’s meeting with Airtel, Trai also discussed postpaid offerings from Reliance Jio under its JioPlus plans. The regulator took note of terms and conditions for the plans that mention the company’s network leverages “network slicing”, the people cited above added.
“While you have subscribed to the most advanced wireless data technology with Jio 5G SA network that leverages advanced deployments like network slicing and many others to enhances your experience, you are also informed that actual download speeds you experience are dependent on multiple factors,” Jio’s terms and conditions read.
A Jio executive, however, said the reference is generic and intended as a disclaimer. “It describes the capabilities of Jio’s 5G standalone network architecture and the various factors that can determine the user experience. Jio currently does not offer any slicing based mobile plans,” the executive said.
During its March-quarter (Q4FY26) earnings call last month, Reliance Jio said it was not looking to introduce network slicing for everyday mobility voice or data services and was awaiting regulatory clarity on the issue.
The regulator is also grappling with divergent industry views on the matter, according to a second person cited above.
Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea have sought regulatory consultations and government clearance before such priority slicing services for consumers are rolled out commercially in the country. Vodafone Idea has specifically told the regulator and the government that the service is discriminatory and could come at the expense of prepaid subscribers.
“At Vi (Vodafone Idea), we strongly believe that every customer deserves a fair and consistent network experience. Offering preferential speeds or services based on user profile, raises questions around equity and principles of an equal digital ecosystem,” Avneesh Khosla, chief marketing officer at Vodafone Idea said in a statement on Thursday.
“For India to continue its digital growth, even as the technology advances, it is important for innovation and monetization models to keep the interests of all customers paramount, be transparent and most of all remain inclusive," Khosla said.
Vodafone Idea currently uses a 5G non-standalone architecture for its 5G network, meaning its services are built on top of existing 4G infrastructure and therefore do not support advanced features such as network slicing in the same way as the 5G standalone networks of Jio and Airtel.
The concerns from Vodafone Idea also come at a time when the telecom operator is trying to improve subscriber additions and retention to bolster its financial performance.