Bharti Airtel on Saturday said that it has received payment from Reliance Jio for the point of interconnections (PoIs) after both the companies signed the agreement recently.

Both the companies will now have to jointly undertake the physical connection and testing of the PoIs as per the bilateral agreement, the company said adding that consequent to successful testing of the PoIs, these will be opened for traffic.

“Airtel released the demand notes for the additional PoIs on September 14, 2016 itself. The payment against the demand notes was received in parts by Airtel on September 15, 2016 and September 16, 2016,” the company said in a statement.

Following the bilateral discussions between the two companies on September 13, Airtel had committed to providing additional PoIs to Jio.

“With the latest augmentation, the total number of PoIs provided will become three times the present number of PoIs. This capacity will be sufficient to serve over 15 million customers, which is much more than Jio’s total subscriber base,” Airtel said.

Airtel said it has ensured that there are no capacity constraints from its end. “In fact, Airtel has been providing PoIs to Jio, well ahead of the commencement of its commercial operations,” it said.

While the interconnect agreement provides for a commissioning period of 90 days from the day Reliance Jio makes the payment, Airtel will work towards releasing the PoIs well ahead of the contractual obligation, the company said.

“We hope Jio will extend its full cooperation to ensure timely testing and commissioning of the PoIs,” it added.

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