Reliance Jio Stands Out In A Gloomy Quarter For Telecom 

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. surpassed Idea Cellular Ltd. by sales as it continues to wage a tariff war to win subscribers and revenue from its older rivals.

Revenue of market leader Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Idea Cellular declined on a yearly basis in the three months ended December. That’s after the telecom regulator cut interconnect usage charges—that a carrier earns for completing calls made by rival network’s users—by more than half starting October. Entrenched operators with largest networks are the net earners of the fee while a challenger like Reliance Jio that offers free voice services is the net payer.

Mukesh Ambani’s owned company was the only one that reported higher sales and operating income as it managed to turn in a profit in less than 15 months of operations. It reported a revenue of Rs 6,789 crore compared to Idea Cellular’s Rs 6,510 crore and Bharti Airtel’s Rs 20,320 crore.

Reliance Jio that only charges for data earns the highest from every user compared to the other two rivals despite a marginal decline. The fall was steeper for Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular.

Debt and leverage ratio, a concern for all telecom operators, remained the highest for Idea Cellular followed by Reliance Jio. Bharti Airtel has the least leverage though its consolidated net debt is the highest.

Monthly data consumption was the highest for Reliance Jio but remained almost unchanged from the previous three months. It rose for its rivals.

The churn ratio, or the percentage of customers who chose to discontinue services, was the lowest for Reliance Jio and the highest for Idea Cellular.