Telecom stocks soar on tariff hike news

Mumbai: Beaten down frontline telecom stocks soared higher with massive gains for the second consecutive day this week on Tuesday, as Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel announced plans to raise mobile phone call and data charges. The BSE Telecom Index gained a whopping 8.52 per cent

Vodafone Idea shares closed with a 34.68 per cent gain on the BSE at Rs 6.02. The stock had gained over 21 per cent on Monday too, leading to over 50 per cent gains in just two sessions. However, the gains have come after massive price erosion, from its 52-week high price of Rs 27.51.

Bharti Airtel gained 7.36 per cent, closing at Rs 439.25 while another Bharti Group company Bharti Infratel gained 10.32 per cent at Rs 250.10.

Reliance Jio promoter RIL also closed with gains of Rs 3.52 per cent at Rs 1,509.80.

Stocks of other telecom services providers also gained as Tejas Network shares gained 19.96 per cent, locked in upper circuit at Rs 81.45. Onmob-ile Global gained 8.38 per cent closing at Rs 35.55.

On whether a re-rating of the telecom sector was in progress, analysts were not sure, though the sector has been a laggard for a very long period now. All the three private operators are saddled with huge debt.

Data from sector regulator Trai showed Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel lost over 49 lakh users in September this year, while Reliance Jio added 69.83 lakh new users to its network.

Bharti Airtel lost 23.8 lakh users in September to take its total user base to 32.55 crore. Similarly, Vodafone Idea lost 25.7 lakh users in the month to take its total user base to 37.24 crore. Reliance Jio added 69.83 lakh users in September, taking its total user base to 35.52 crore.