Reliance Communications made its debut on the stock market with an USD 8 billion price tag on Monday, and said it would aggressively ramp up capacity to win a greater share of the world's fastest-growing and cheapest mobile market. India is home to the lowest tariffs anywhere, at between 2 and 3 U.S. cents a minute for a local mobile call, and has 85.4 million wireless users -- more than the population of Germany.
India added 4.28 million GSM and CDMA users in February, but still less than 9 of every 100 Indians owns a mobile phone. Spun off to shareholders of India's energy conglomerate Reliance Industries, Reliance Communications Ventures Ltd. ranks second in terms of mobile customers behind USD 17.5-billion rival Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd., India's only other listed telecoms firm with a nationwide footprint.
"To fund our future capex needs we're currently providing 50 billion rupees (USD 1.13 billion) a year for the next three years across all our businesses," Chairman Anil Ambani told reporters.
"The amount will be raised through internal accruals."
Half the amount would be spent on expanding mobile networks.
Reliance Communications traded in the range of 277.15 rupees and 309 rupees. It closed at 290.85, creating a top-15 listed Indian firm with a market value of USD 8.02 billion.
