The 100 richest Indians: Wireless warfareMukesh Ambani tops Forbes' '100 Richest Indians' list for ninth consecutive year on a 21 percent rise in Reliance's shares in the past 12 monthsThe September launch of Jio, the long-awaited 4G phone service of oil and gas giant Reliance Industries, unleashed a price war in India’s hyper-competitive telecom market with an offer of a four-month free trial followed by free voice calls and messaging and low-priced data services. Stocks of incumbents, including telecom pioneer Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel, tumbled. Mittal, who founded his Singtelbacked company 21 years ago, has the most to lose; one in four Indians with a mobile phone is an Airtel customer. To fight off the fearsome competitor, Mittal bought 4G spectrum from struggling rivals for $1.2 billion and is gearing up to buy more at a government auction.

Source: Forbes September 21, 2016 21:33 UTC