20/11/2025
The most ruthless takeover in India? That is the case for Mukesh Ambani who bankrupted 11 rivals.India's telecom space was ruled by Airtel and Vodafone,with more than 70% market share.Mobile data was expensive, making access a privilege for the few.But in 2016 enters Ambani through his conglomerate holding group Reliance Industries.He built JIO, India's 1st 4G only network investing over 35 Billion dollars.Due to it's CapEx & Opex financial muscle,JIO was able to quickly cover 8,000 towns and 200,000 villages across India with 4G network infrastructure as it's competitors still lagged behind with 3G network.JIO's masterstroke was enhanced by its genius business strategy.
They offered all their services free for the 1st 6 months,with unlimited calls,texts and unlimited 4G data! Imagine that as a consumer.This was ofcourse at a loss on their end,a move critics referred to as making a financial su***de for a startup like JIO.But they had no idea of what was coming.That strategy by JIO resulted to 16 Million users in the 1st month,50 Million users by the 3rd month and over 100 million users by the 6th month.This wasn't just customer growth,it was customer invasion and now the competitors could only watch helpless.Millions of Indians who had never used the internet were now streaming,video calling and living online.
Rivals panicked,they tried reducing their rates while others tried the merger tactic,but the cheese had already moved to JIO.When JIO started charging after the 6th month free trial,they gave out a 95% cheaper service price than what the competitors had been offering.The competitors were further trapped in a game they couldn't win,while Jio continued to enjoy economies of scale.JIO not only brought disruption but also obliteration.For you to look like a genius in the world of business,have enough ready money for Capex & Opex that will enable you carry out predatory pricing, squeezing out competitors while giving you a monopoly up.It is a strategy similar to the power of