'Jio JIO' as Ambani extends free offer till March, 2017: Idea, Airtel fall sharply

In what can be termed as a rare appearance, chief of MDAG, Mukesh Ambani addressed his stake-holders on Thursday noon while detailing what he called as a 'New Year' bonanza from his telecom entity operating under brand name of Jio. While the senior Ambani announced extension of free services for all existing and new Jio customers till end of March, 2017, other telecom companies' stocks simply crashed. He was addressing Reliance stake-holders through a live broadcast even as Indian equity markets continue to remain choppy.

In his address, Ambani also mentioned how his Jio brand has grown faster than Facebook, Skype and also Whatsapp since its launch in September this year. Claiming Jio subscribers have been using at least four multiplications more data than subscribers on the other telecom networks, Ambani also claimed Jio has a much faster speed than any of the other service-providers. Talking about home-delivery of Jio SIMs at one's place of comfort, the man behind Jio said his company has been working towards having 4 lakh digitally-enabled company outlets by March, 2017. Coming down heavily on other telecom operators in the country, Ambani pointed inter-connect issues Jio has been facing due to 'non-cooperation' from other operators. However, he assured Jio consumers saying that such glitches will be fixed soon. Immediate after his statements, Idea and Airtel lost over 4 per cent and at the time of filing this report, Idea was trading at Rs 74 while Airtel was hovering in the range of Rs 314-315.