RCom shares fall 5% as the company plans to shut down 2G operations

Continuing to fall for the second straight session, shares of Reliance Communications today fell by nearly 5 per cent amid buzz that the debt-ridden company is planning to shut down its wireless telephony business.

After a weak opening, shares of the company further lost 4.55 per cent to Rs 15.70 - 52-week low - on BSE.

On NSE, the stock lost 4.86 per cent to hit a one-year low of Rs 15.65.

The stock had fallen by over 3 per cent yesterday. On Tuesday it had declined by 3.95 per cent.

RCom plans to shut down its loss-making wireless telephony business by November 30 and concentrate only on 4G Internet services, according to sources.

"As already announced on October 1, 2017, RCom has decided to adopt a 4G-focused strategy for profitable growth of its wireless business. Accordingly, RCom will be optimising its 2G and 3G footprint, and related infrastructure and human resources, with effect from November 30, 2017," the company said in a statement yesterday.

RCom said its "4G-led strategy will be executed, as at present, on the back of capital-light access to Indias most extensive 4G mobile network, through already operational spectrum-sharing and ICR arrangements with Reliance Jio".

Idea Cellular erases initial losses to gain even after poor Q1 results

STOCK MARKET - Idea Cellular pared initial losses to gain as much as 2.1% on value buying after the company on Thursday posted a loss of Rs 815.9 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, missing estimates as Reliance Jio triggered a price war in the Indian mobile telephony market.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 217.1 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. This is the company’s its third net loss in succession. Revenue for India’s No. 3 mobile phone operator also fell nearly 14% on year to Rs 8,166.5 crore.

Idea attributed the steep decline in voice and mobile data realisations to the aggressive tariff led by unlimited voice and data bundle plans. “However, the fall in realisation rate was largely compensated by a substantial volume growth,” it said.

The scrip lost as much as 5.4% in the early morning trade but later erased initial losses and was trading 0.7% higher at Rs 90.30 at 12.47 pm (IST). On the other hand, Sensex was down 0.57 per cent at 32,198.

Shares of the company had hit their fresh 52-week high of Rs 123.75 on March 20, 2017 and 52-week low of Rs 66 on November 9, 2016.

Idea ended June with 189 million users, compared with 189.5 million it had at the end of March.

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Reliance Prime users get 448 GB data free on purchase of Galaxy S8, S8+

Launched in India on Wednesday amid much fanfare, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ are two top-tier flagship smartphones. The sale of the smartphones will begin on 5 May, 2017 for Rs 57,900 and Rs 64,900, respectively on Flipkart as well as Samsung online store. To make the deal even sweeter, the smartphones come bundled with Reliance Jio exclusive offer that provide ‘Double Data’ to the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ customers.

As a promotional offer, the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ customer will get a Double Data offer on the Jio network. On a monthly recharge of Rs 309 users will enjoy 448 GB of 4G data over 8 months. This translated to 2 GB high-speed 4G data per day for next 8 months.

To recall, under Reliance Jio’s Dhana Dhan offer the subscribers are offered 1 GB 4G high-speed data per day for 3 months at a monthly recharge of Rs 309. Also, on a recharge of Rs 509, the subscribers get 2 GB 4G high-speed data for 3 months.

Effectively, the Reliance Jio ‘Double Data’ promotional offer that comes bundled with Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ offers much more than double the data to Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. At Rs 309 recharge, the prime users get 2 GB data per day – already double to what existing users get In Dhana Dhan offer – for 8 months.

The sale of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ devices will begin on 5 May, 2017 and therefore the benefits of Reliance Jio ‘Double Data’ promotional offer for the flagship smartphones buyers will continue till January 2018.

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