Ambani termed COAI's appeal to the telecom tribunal against the government granting RCom dual-use technology (CDMA and GSM) as "unnecessary and unwarranted". He was speaking on the sidelines of a press conference on RCom's IPTV services.
Ambani's comments come after a letter written by Communications Minister A Raja to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday saying COAI was misleading the country on the spectrum issue.
RCom, the country's largest provider of CDMA mobile services, recently received permission to start GSM services under its existing licence for which it paid a fee of Rs 1,651 crore (Rs 16.51 billion).
GSM service operators, which account for the bulk of mobile services in the country, have alleged that in allowing RCom dual-use technology under the same licence, the government has given it priority in the queue of service providers awaiting spectrum allocation. Some operators have been waiting for spectrum for almost a year.
Ambani accused COAI of "false propaganda" and said its objections were "also against the subscribers and the future of competition".
Despite being a GSM operator in eight circles and having around 5 million GSM subscribers, RCom has also "disassociated" itself from the association, he added. RCom provides GSM services through its subsidiary Reliance Telecom.
Ambani said that RCom did not have any "planned course of action" and the rollout would depend on the allocation of spectrum.
COAI executives declined to comment, stating "we have nothing to say". The telecom tribunal is scheduled to hear the matter on November 12.
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