TRAI Chairman RS Sharma on Tuesday slammed incumbent telecom operators for trying to dent the sectoral regulator's impartiality and credibility, saying that their allegations of bias or favour in regulation are absolutely ‘inappropriate and uncalled for’. He said the regulator has framed the rules including that on predatory pricing following the principles of fairness, transparency and consultation.
“We are in an unenviable position. We are not here running a popularity contest,” he said. His comments came just days after British telecom giant Vodafone termed TRAI’s new rule on predatory pricing as ‘unfair’, and said the company was fighting the competition ‘with hands tied at the back’.
Sunil Mittal, who heads the country's biggest mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel had also recently stated that the operators had no choice but to move court against the regulator's order on predatory pricing, which prevents them from retaining customers and conducting business.