Reliance Jio, which is yet to launch commercial operations, has narrowed down its net loss to Rs 11.40 crore during six months ended March 2016, against Rs 15.44 crore net loss in the corresponding six months to March 2015. For the full year ended March 2016, Reliance Jio's net loss remained almost flat at Rs 23.88 crore as against Rs 23.12 crore a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing to the BSE.
Jio said that it has made an advance payment of Rs 2,860 crore to RCom towards change in allotment of agreed spectrum in the 850 Mhz band in nine service areas which in included in capital advances. The telecom department Friday approved the spectrum sharing deal between both the telecom operators.
The parent RIL will be investing over Rs 60,000 crore in capital expenditure (Capex) in Jio this fiscal. The company said that apportion of Rs 60,000 crore will be spent on widening the network coverage to 90% as planned from the present 70% of the population. In addition, some amount will be paid to RCom for sharing its towers as well.
The company has pumped over Rs 1 trillion in Jio since bagging licence in 2010. It has an equity capital of Rs 45,000 crore while the debt component is around Rs 33,000 crore. The company also revealed that its network is supported by 90,000 telecom towers now, half of which are owned by the Jio, while rest is on lease.
Jio said that it will required over 1 lakh towers to cover 90% network coverage. Jio now holds 751.10 MHz of liberalised spectrum across the 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz bands. In addition, it entered into agreements with RCom for change in spectrum allotment in the 800 MHz band for nine circles and sharing of spectrum in the 800MHz band across 17 circles.
