NEW DELHI: Senior executives from Reliance Jio Infocomm and Bharti Airtel have met with the telecom regulator to seek clarity on issues that may emerge from offering services to consumers on closed communication networks , the exception to discriminatory pricing norms spelled out by Trai on Monday.Sources aware of developments told ET that senior executives from the country’s largest telecom firm and the newest telecom operator have sought clarification from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on various issues, including implications for customers who roam on their networks or may be on their network due to intra-circle roaming agreements.“Also, whether these customers will be able to access content offered under the closed communication group,” one of the executives said, requesting anonymity. The companies, have also sought clarity on whether they will be held liable if subscribers watch and pay for same content outside the closed group, which is offered by the telcos free of charge or at lower rates, inside the closed group.Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel and Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio declined to comment. Trai barred discriminatory pricing on the basis of content, source and application, setting the foundation for net neutrality in India.It, however, allowed reduction of tariffs during times of “grave public emergency”. Another exemption was on “tariffs for data services over closed electronic communication networks”. No details were given. The regulator has said it will step in if tariffs in closed networks are aimed at evading the prohibition, and that its decision on what constitutes a rule breach would be final.“We want to be absolutely certain before tweaking our plans or coming up with new plans or structures that are allowed through the exception that has been allowed,” said another executive at the second telco.Telecom operators say they are still in the dark on the types of tariff plans which would be protected, structuring of various tariffs which can be offered and which of them may run afoul of the new rules on discriminatory data pricing.Carriers are collectively preparing to issue a formal communication via lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) next week, which would ask the regulator to clear the air on several such issues.Stakes are high for companies like Bharti Airtel, which has over 243 million customers, and Reliance Jio, which intends to make a big splash entry in the Indian telecom sector with a launch scheduled for April.Mobile carriers are considering creative workarounds to hold on to data customers and reduce the impact of the latest regulation, which may include bill shocks for entry-level data users.Some of the options being discussed include creating owned apps/content and hosting them on company servers, bypassing the internet in the process, to even reviewing data pack volume marketing strategies. Telcos have six months to comply with the rules. Therefore, most of them are poring over the regulation while not leaving out opportunities to communicate their concerns to the regulator.