Reliance Jio launch delay frustrating investors: Citi Group report

However, the report said that the delay is expected to be on the account of the company's chase for 'perfection'

The excessive delay in Reliance Jio's commercial launch is frustrating investors, a Citi Group report said here on Friday.

"The ensuing delay could be testing investors' patience. It raises concerns of Jio further eroding its first mover advantage. The capital expenditure targets also continue to go up," the report said.

The delay is expected to be on the account of the company's chase for "perfection", it said.

"RIL (Reliance Industries Ltd) is leaving no stone unturned in ensuring Jio does not over-promise and under-deliver. The company now plans to fully integrate Reliance Communication's 800 MHz spectrum before the Jio launch (making it the only player with sub-1GHz pan-India LTE spectrum," the report said.

 

"It (RIL) also plans to increase the coverage to 90 per cent (from 70 per cent) before the Jio launch," it added.

The report however stressed that a 3-6 month delay in the recently announced core projects does not impact estimate earnings of the company materially, since a meaningful contribution is assumed to come only by FY18.