Telecom stocks in focus; Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea gain upto 7%

Shares of telecom service providers gained up to 7 per cent on the BSE in Monday’s intra-day trade after RJio launched the much awaited JioPhone Next. Jio Platforms (“Jio”), a majority-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries (RIL).

JioPhone Next will be made available from November 4. The device is priced at Rs 6,499. However, the company is offering customers EMI options starting at Rs 300 per month with a down payment of Rs 1,999.

According to ICICI Securities, the pricing per se is not disruptive given the slew of smart phones already available in Rs 5,000-7,000 range as well as current mix of Rs sub 3,000 phone and sub Rs 100 ARPU paid by existing lower strata of 2G users.