Indian telecoms carrier Reliance Communications (RCom) posted its third straight quarterly loss on Saturday as its heavy debt load and a price war triggered by an upstart rival continued to weigh on sales and profit. RCom, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, has won a reprieve on its debt until the end of the year as it works on two asset sale deals that it expects will reduce its $7 billion debt by about 60 percent.

On Saturday, it reported a net loss of 12.21 billion Indian rupees ($190.38 million) for its fiscal first quarter ended June, against a profit of 540 million rupees a year earlier. Revenue from operations fell 33.6 percent year-on-year to 34.94 billion rupees, while finance costs rose to 9.98 billion rupees.

The company's continued losses are, in part, a result of competition from free voice and cut-price data plans offered by Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom startup backed by Ambani's elder brother Mukesh. Jio has upended India's uber-competitive telecom sector, forcing all incumbents to drop prices despite falling margins and profits. But RCom's struggle with its debt load and little success with its initial bet on a network based on CDMA technology have also led to its current financial situation.

Copyright Reuters, 2017