India's Reliance Jio extends free services, as telecoms price war intensifies

India's Reliance Industries announced a three-month extension to an offer of free data and voice services by its telecoms unit Jio, signalling that a brutal price war in India's mobile sector that has already hurt its rivals is intensifying.

Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, said in a live feed on YouTube on Thursday that Jio's existing and new customers will get free voice and data till March 31, 2017. The free offer was earlier valid till Dec. 31.

Jio had made a splash in September by offering the free data, and rivals such as Bharti Airtel have been forced to respond with price cuts of their own, though at a steep cost.

After Ambani's announcement on Thursday, Bharti shares slumped 2 percent while Idea Cellular Ltd plunged 6 percent.

Ambani added that Jio has crossed 50 million customers in the three months since launching on Sept 1, and accused its competitors of unfair tactics, including blocking voice calls made through Jio to other networks.

Jio has so far invested over $20 billion in establishing a country-wide telecoms network, but still lags well behind Vodafone's around 200 million customers and Bharti's more than 257 million subscribers.