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, a closely held unit of Ambani’s Reliance IndustriesBSE -1.21 %, plans to raise $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.
The fresh round of funding will help Jio challenge competitors with free-for-life voice calls and free data services through March.
After Jio’s entry, Vodafone Group, which runs the second-largest operator in India, said in November it would write down the value of its local unit. A national tribunal is set to hear a case February 1, after Bharti AirtelBSE -0.67 % complained the freebies are killing the industry.