India's fastest 4G network: Court rejects Reliance Jio plea against Bharti Airtel

Mumbai: A Mumbai court has turned down the petition filed by Reliance Jio against Bharti Airtel that has been claiming to be fastest 4G network in India through television advertisement.

In the TV ad, Bharti Airtel has claimed that global internet speed tester Ookla has certified Airtel as India's fastest 4G network which did not go down well with Reliance Jio that also stakes claim on the title. Reliance Jio is new entrant to country's telecom market that has been disrupted by Jio's aggressive pricing strategy.

Reliance Jio had made Ookla a party to the case and had appealed to the court that both Bharti Airtel and Ookla should be tried for running 'defamatory' advertisement, as according to Jio the ad has damaged its reputation.

Last week telecom regulator TRAI had crowned Reliance Jio as India's fastest 4G network with a downloading speed of 18 mega bit per second. The report was for the month of July in which Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone were also rated based on their respective 4G internet speed. TRAI has given Bharti Airtel number 4 rank in terms of fastest 4G.

Reliance Jio claims it is India's fastest 4G provider. (Photo: PTI)

Jio had further alleged in the complaint before metropolitan court that Bharti Airtel fastest network ad has caused the company huge monetary losses and it amounts to defamation, conspiracy or breach of trust.

However, in July the court had rejected all these claims. According to a report in The Economic Times, Jio had alleged that internet speed testing company Ookla was trying to sell fastest 4G network certificate for $120,000. Interestingly, Jio turned down the offer as it thought the methodology involved in arriving at the result was flawed.

Bharti Airtel spokesperson said, “We are grateful to the Hon’ble court for dismissing the frivolous allegations made against us. Bharti Airtel takes great pride in maintaining the highest standards of ethics and compliance.”