Indian Billionaire Ambani Plows $4.4 Billion More in 4G Unit to Bolster War Chest
- Jio plans rights offer as free data services extended
- Freebies are threat to competition, biggest rival Airtel says
Mukesh Ambani.
Photographer: Pankaj Nangia/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
India’s richest man isn’t done yet. After plowing $25 billion into starting a national fourth-generation mobile network, billionaire Mukesh Ambani is spending more to boost coverage amid complaints from its largest rival that his free services are hurting competition.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., a closely held unit of Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd., plans to raise 300 billion rupees ($4.4 billion) from a rights offer and will use the proceeds to enhance its network capacity, it said in an exchange filing Saturday. With freebies, Jio says it’s been luring 600,000 new users a day and had about 72.4 million subscribers four months after starting operations.