India's Reliance Ind fibre broadband entry: pricing clarity awaited

Den Networks

06/07/2018 06:14

** Reliance Industries  RELI.NS  unveiled its fibre
broadband system JioGigaFiber at its annual general meeting
(AGM) on Thursday in a push to make deeper inroads into the
country's wireless and fixed-line internet industry  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1U12D1
    ** Reliance JioPhone 2, now priced at 2,999 rupees ($43.55),
will be available from Aug 15 and targets 100 mln users for it
    ** Goldman Sachs analysts say lack of clarity on exact
launch timeline and tariffs of fixed-line services could suggest
limited near-term impact on home broadband/DTH players
    ** "Unlike the previous two AGMs of RIL, we believe the
overall impact of this year's announcements are likely to be
less severe for telcos vs prior years" - GS
    ** Jefferies says that for Jio to expand the market for
JioFiber, pricing will need to be aggressive and "roll-out will
likely be gradual as last mile connection takes time"
    ** CLSA says amid renewed risks of subscriber churn, Bharti
Airtel's  BRTI.NS  ability to drive adoption of data will be key
to its ARPU recovery; Vodafone-Idea Cellular Ltd  IDEA.NS  also
face similar risks
    ** Reliance Industries shares up 1.6 pct while Airtel down
0.7 pct and Idea Cellular up 0.8 pct
    ** Rival broadband providers tanked for second session with
Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd  HAWY.NS  down 8.5 pct and DEN
Networks Ltd  DENN.NS  down 6.2 pct
 ($1 = 68.8600 Indian rupees)

 ((Reuters Messaging:
tanvi.mehta.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))