Jio (RELIANCE IN) India
Communications
It is rare for a single company to be able to change the direction of an industry globally, but New Street thinks that is what happened at Reliance Industries AGM where Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of RIL and founder of Reliance Jio announced a target of 100m 5G FWA subscribers in India in coming years. For context, New Street estimates there are currently around 2-3m FWA subscribers globally. Jio’s announcement on its own therefore turbocharges the entire FWA industry. FWA in EM today is analogous to 2G mobile in 2000, with outsized returns likely given modest market expectations and strong underlying demand.
Edition: 144
- 16 September, 2022
Indian Telcos: Extreme Consolidation
Communications
Is India, home to 1.4bn people, really about to be left with only 2 private mobile operators? For anyone that remembers when India had 12 or 13 operators in each region, it is amazing that a series of poor regulatory decisions and intense competition from Jio has brought the market to this stage, but the answer is probably, yes. Implications are significant for investors in both the Telcos and the Towers…
Edition: 117
- 20 August, 2021
Bharti Airtel (BHARTI IN) India
Communications
Once again Bharti has outperformed Jio operationally, which begs the question why is Jio valued at almost 2x Bharti’s Indian mobile business? The reported Indian Mobile EBITDA gap between the two operators is down to 28% (having been over 100%) and New Street explain why they expect the gap to narrow further. In recent years, EM & Global telco investors have lacked a multi-year high growth liquid investment opportunity. Bharti is that opportunity. TP INR 1,000 (90% upside).
Edition: 111
- 28 May, 2021