The rise and fall of Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communications

• RCom initially debuted as Reliance Infocomm offering free unlimited incoming calls along with a free mobile phone in 2002.
• Troubles started for RCom as it discovered CDMA services generated less revenue than GSM. It invested heavily to roll out GSM services, eventually ending up with a massive debt.
• RCom’s involvement in the 2G scam, its inability to reduce its debt due to failed business sales and falling revenue led to its downfall over the next decade.

Long before Reliance Jio, around the time when millennials were mere children, Reliance Infocomm had disrupted the telecom sector.

While its rivals charged anywhere between ₹4-6 per minute even for incoming calls, RCom offered them for free with a ₹500 handset. The company also hired former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag with a catchy Karlo duniya mutthi mein jingle.

However, RCom’s choice of technology in CDMA early on, made it invest capital into expanding into 3G and GSM services. Ballooning debt, telecom tariff wars, failed capital raising would spell doom for the company over the next few years.

Here’s a look at the rise and the fall of RCom.