Reliance Jio challenges Delhi High Court order on slashing portability fee

KOLKATA: Reliance Jio Infocomm has challenged in Supreme Court a Delhi High Court order dismissing its appeal against an earlier high court judgement quashing the telecom regulator’s decision to reduce a key porting fee by nearly 80%. “Jio has filed a special leave petition (SLP) last week and the country’s apex court is likely to hear the matter later this month", a person with direct knowledge told ET.



Jio’s decision to move the apex court puts on hold efforts by India’s two MNP service providers — Syniverse Tech and MNP Interconnection — to recover nearly ₹120 crore of combined porting fee arrears retrospectively from February 2018 from the telecom operators. The arrears also include fees relating to unsuccessful ports from February last year.


Mobile number portability (MNP) refers to the facility that allows users to switch telco operators without changing their mobile number. The Mukesh Ambani-led telco had in April appealed against the Delhi High Court’s March 8, 2019, judgement that had rejected a 17-month old Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) regulation slashing the per port transaction charge (PPTC) to ₹4 from ₹19.