Decoding the 6p maths behind Reliance Jio making ‘calls paid’

ET Intelligence Group: Reliance Jio’s move to pass the burden of interconnect usage charges (IUC) to its subscribers through the newly introduced top-up vouchers has stumped analysts, who might now struggle to compute the fair value of the telco that has upended India’s sectoral leader-board in less than three years through record subscriber additions.
Analysts want to know whether the move is to be construed as an indirect tariff increase, helping Jio gradually enhance the profitability dimension to the frenetic pace of growth it has achieved in less than three years. Some others believe the measure might be aimed at pressuring the regulator to abolish IUC by its original deadline of December 2019.
The Street has so far been building the case of an increase in Jio’s tariffs in the next two years after it reached a subscriber market share of 45%. The telecom venture already accounts for about a fourth of the total enterprise value at Reliance Industries, India’s biggest company by market value.