Reliance Jio net loss widens to Rs 22.5 cr in October-March period

Losses due to free voice, data services, employee cost, finance cost, depreciation

Reliance Jio Infocomm on Monday posted a net loss of Rs 22.50 crore for the six months ended March 31, 2017, as the company provided free voice and data services since its launch on September 5, 2016.

The loss pertained to not just free voice and data services unleashed by its brand reliance Jio, but also on account of employee cost, finance cost, depreciation and other expenses.

The total expenses of the company during the six-month period stood at Rs 34.88 crore.

However, the company earned Rs 54 lakh from other income during the six-month period.

Reliance Jio that launched its services in September, last year, extended the free usage period for Jio services to its existing and new customers till March 31, 2017.

The company started billing its customers from April and currently has 72 million subscribers.

Mobile subscriber additions by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have seen a steady decline since the launch of Reliance Jio, last September but these are likely to stabilise soon because the new entrant has started billing.

According to the Cellular Operators’ Association of India, Airtel witnessed a five per cent drop in monthly subscriber additions in October. In November, subscriber additions by Airtel fell to 1.08 million from 2.33 million in the previous month.