Reliance Jio keeps Airtel and Idea shares under pressure

In line with yesterday's losses, the shares of telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular plunged on Friday ahead the official launch of its rival Reliance Jio on Monday.

At 1002 hours the shares of Idea Cellular was trading at Rs 81.20 per piece, down 2.99%, or Rs 2.50.

At the same time, the shares of Bharti Airtel was trading at Rs 310 per piece, down 0.06%, or Rs 0.20.

Giving jolt to both the companies even before entering the market, yesterday the companies lost nearly Rs 15000 crore in market capitalization.

Aditya-Birla telecom arm, Idea lost nearly Rs 3000 crore in market capitalisation yesterday in less than hour since Ambani began outlining charges and others features for Reliance Jio customers. 

Airtel--India's largest telecom company suffered an over Rs 11,000 crore in market cap erosion by noon.

On Thursday, Mukesh Ambani-led company had also announced data tarriffs plan which starts from Rs 19 to Rs 149 for a day plan to Rs 4,999 per month plan.  

In July, Airtel and Idea had slashed its data tarriffs to retain its customers. 

The ambitious Jio project could make Reliance the most comprehensive provider of telecom and internet services across India - and give it unprecedented access to the country's untapped 'big data'.

We had reported that Reliance Jio now has over 1.5 million test users on its network just over seven months since its test launch.