Idea Cellular posts third straight loss amid price war

(Reuters) - Idea Cellular Ltd, India's No. 3 telecoms firm, reported a third straight quarterly loss on Thursday, reeling in the wake of a price war wrought by upstart entrant Reliance Jio.

The company reported a net loss of 8.15 billion rupees ($127.13 million) for the three months ended June 30 after posting a profit of 2.20 billion a year earlier. (http://bit.ly/2u1iLpF )

Analysts on average estimated a loss of 6.71 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data showed.

Idea's capital expenditure guidance for full year 2018 is 60 billion rupees, it said.

Reliance Industries, led by India's wealthiest man Mukesh Ambani, entered India's telecoms industry last year, spending more than $30 billion on Jio and upending the sector with its low-cost data plans.

The ensuing price war has triggered consolidation in the world's second biggest mobile phone market by users.

Idea and Vodafone Group Plc's have agreed to merge their Indian operations in a $23 billion deal that is expected to close in 2018. Bharti Airtel is taking over operations of Norway's Telenor in six Indian states.

This week, bigger rival Bharti Airtel reported its smallest profit in 18 quarters.

(Reporting by Arnab Paul in Bengaluru; editing by Edwina Gibbs and Jason Neely)