Trai meet: No proposal to take action against COAI

NEW DELHI: There is no proposal before the government to initiate any action against cellular body COAI over its DG's statement that he was not allowed to participate in a meeting held by telecom regulator with some operators at the behest of Reliance Jio, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

While the matter of "surreptitious and defamatory" statements made by an association against Trai can be dealt with under the law dealing with defamation, the regulator has said it generally does not take cognisance of content of news items containing such defamatory statements made by anybody, including COAI, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

However, taking note of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director general's statement in the electronic media that he was not allowed to participate in the said meeting on September 9, 2016, Trai asked the association's chairman to direct the DG to "retract his false statement made in the media and issue apologies for the same".


"In response, COAI chairman vide his e-mail dated September 10, 2016, assured Trai that COAI remains committed to working with Trai to further the cause of mobility industry as a whole. In view of the above, there is no proposal before the government to initiate any action against COAI," Sinha added.