Cellular operators have accused Reliance Infocomm of offering predatory prices in Chennai and rest of Tamil Nadu, and sought immediate intervention of the telecom regulator.

In a letter to Pradip Baijal, chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority, Cellular Operators Association of India has said tariffs for pre-paid subscribers in Chennai and Tamil Nadu circles, for national and inter-circle calls, have been reduced to an extent, non-complying with TRAI's prescribed IUC (interconnect user charges) regime.

TRAI has already once dismissed COAI's allegation against Reliance saying, "differential tariffs in the retail segment were permissible and the service provider must be able to meet the IUC expenses on weighted average basis."

But, COAI has once again petitioned TRAI citing reasons that the Authority had applied different yardsticks in the case of Reliance for dismissing the charges, sources told PTI.

"We are perplexed to note that the Authority has applied different yardsticks for different service providers on the issue of weighted average IUC charges," COAI letter said.

Citing an earlier example involving Videsh Sanchar Nigam and MobileFirst where the regulator had not accepted VSNL's "weighted average based carriage charges," COAI letter has sought clarification on the same.

"We would like to draw the Authority's attention to its letter to VSNL wherein the Authority has clearly recorded that there is no provision to offer carriage charges on weighted average basis", the letter stated.