RCom In The Red For 7th Quarter In Row But April-June Loss Narrows

Debt-laden telecoms company Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) said its losses narrowed in the first quarter and it is confident of closing its debt resolution process by the end of September.

It reported a loss of Rs 342 crore ($34 million) for April to June on Wednesday, saying lower expenses in terms of access charges and licensing fees had helped reduce losses.

It was the company's seventh straight quarter in the red but narrowed from a loss of Rs 19,800 crore in the previous quarter and a Rs 1,221 crore loss in the same quarter a year ago.

Like other telecoms firms, RCom has been hit by a fierce price war and is the most leveraged of all listed telecoms carriers in the country.

RCom, controlled by businessman Anil Ambani, is due to sell Rs 18,100 crore of assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm and Canada's Brookfield, which will trim its huge debt pile.

Revenue from operations fell about 26 per cent to Rs 1,006 crore in the first quarter, it said.

RCom owed banks $7 billion as of March 2017 when it last made public its debt level, and more to vendors.

RCom is confident of closing the ongoing debt resolution in the second quarter of FY 2018-19 as planned, the company said in its results statement.

Already reeling under a huge debt load, RCom fell deeper into the red after the market entry in 2016 of Reliance Industries' telecoms venture Jio Infocomm, owned by Mukesh Ambani - Asia's richest person and Anil Ambani's older brother.

RCom, once the country's No.2 phone carrier, shut down its mobile business late last year. After the wireless business sale, it plans to focus on its enterprise business of data centres and undersea cabling.

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