Mukesh Ambani doesn’t want Reliance Jio to be a small player; is raking in $4.4 billion more in it

Mukesh Ambani is not going to leave any stone unturned and has plans to make Reliance Jio number one as quickly as possible.

Ambani, who raked in $25 billion in his Reliance Jio venture, is now plowing whopping $4.4 billion more in the company. He will be spending more to boost coverage amid complaints from its largest rival that his free services are hurting competition.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd plans to raise Rs 300 billion from a rights offer and will use the proceeds to enhance its network capacity, it said in an exchange filing Saturday.

Bloomberg reported Jio will be luring 600,000 new users a day and had about 72.4 million subscribers four months after starting operations.

With $4.4 billion, Reliance Jio will challenge his rivals with more free voice and data offers.

"Reliance clearly doesn't want to be a small player, but wants to be No. 1, and to be No. 1, you need to invest lots of money. For sure, the other operators are struggling, but you need a disruptor to shake things up," said Anthea Lai, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence.

Jio is planning to issue 6 billion, 9%, non-cumulative, optionally convertible preference shares of 10 rupees each at a premium of 40 rupees.

Meanwhile, number one telecom operator Airtel has accused TRAI of turning a blind eye to Jio's free service offer. In an affidavit filed at the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, Airtel said Jio's free services were against the interests of the industry and will wipe out competition.

"Having already made most of the investments in building out the network, Jio is probably spending this money on customer acquisition and some last-mile connectivity. They're still capitalizing the company, as this is probably the first such startup in the world," Deven Choksey, managing director of Mumbai-based brokerage K.R. Choksey Shares & Securities Pvt, told Bloomberg by phone.