Soon after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ordered Reliance Jio to take back its ‘Summer Surprise’ offer, which will provide free data to its users, change.org a petition demanding affordable internet has got as many as 65, 000 signatures. The move taken by TRAI might have made competitors of Jio happy, however, consumers seem not very pleased with it.
As per a report in Times of India, Change.org petition even termed yesterday as ” black day”. The campaign has been started by Hyderabad based techie Amit Bhawani, whose petition said, “After the order April 7 is a black day for Digital India. The users who with your support, won the battle for net neutrality; today may lose out on access of affordable internet.”
Bhawani said that after the TRAI order, access of data will become expensive for the consumers. He also clarified that he is not favoring any particular telecom company and only wants access to affordable internet connection.
“This petition recommends of any Telecom Operator that is providing affordable internet to the consumers. Ignoring the legal side I wish that TRAI & DOT (department of telecommunication) would work in favor of the consumers and will come out in support of any initiatives that help them access the internet at affordable pricing,” the petition said.
On March 31, 2017, Reliance had announced its summer surprise offer on March 31, 2017. As per the plan all Jio Prime subscribers would have access to plan of Rs 303 or higher before April 15, 2017.
After Reliance announced Jio, its competitors like including Airtel, Vodafone and Idea reported loss in revenue in the final quarter of 2016.
