Around 0.5-0.6 mn users have been onboarded to Reliance Jio and initial results are encouraging. Users consumed 250 mins of voice and 18GB of data within the first month ? although we note this is currently a free service. Jio's 4G network showed that: (a) network coverage was at par with incumbents in urban areas, (b) speeds were 7-15x that of Airtel 4G LTE in urban centers.
Telecom investments are now ~Rs1190 bn, which includes Rs450 bn of equity, Rs332 bn of debt and balance being deferred spectrum payables and vendor financing.
The company indicated that the spectrum from RCom will get integrated in next 8-10 weeks, which will set the stage for full-scale launch anywhere during next 3-9 months. The initial results from employee trial runs have been positive with fairly high usage of data as well as voice minutes. The company is planning to extend the test runs further through referrals and other channels, which will progressively lead to a wider commercial rollout during this year.
