Airtel ravaged by rate war

Local telecom giant Bharti Airtel has reported its first quarterly loss in 14 years on Thursday, bludgeoned by the brutal war for market share unleashed by Reliance Jio, whose rock-bottom rates have led to a loss of customers.

Airtel’s consolidated net loss for the June quarter of 2019 was Rs 2,866 crore compared with a profit of Rs 97 crore a year ago. Revenue rose 4.7 per cent to Rs 20,738 crore from Rs 19,799 crore a year ago. Revenue from the India wireless business grew 4.1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 10,724 crore.

Analysts were expecting the company to report a loss of Rs 1,017 crore.

Both Airtel and Vodafone Idea have been under pressure ever since Jio launched its services in September 2016 and shook up the market.