Telecom major Bharti Airtel reported a 55% slump in net profit to Rs 504 crore in the October-December quarter. In 2015, the company had posted a Q3 net profit of Rs 1,108 crore. Airtel Managing Director and CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal blamed the “predatory pricing” of the new telecom entrant Reliance Jio for the plunge.

“The quarter has seen turbulence due to the continued predatory pricing by a new operator. The present termination costs at 14 paise, which are well below cost, has resulted in a tsunami of minutes terminating into our network,” Vittal said in a statement.

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The company’s total revenue also declined by 3% to Rs 23,336 crore year on year from Rs 24,066 crore. However, Airtel said its revenue from India was up by 1.8%, and that its revenue market share in the country had crossed 33%. “The slowdown in mobile revenue growth is primarily due to the free voice and data offers from a new operator,” the telecom firm said.

Airtel’s consolidated net debt has risen by 24% to Rs 97,395 crore, compared to Rs 78,451 crore in the third quarter last year. “Forex and derivative losses for the quarter came in at Rs 126 crore, compared to Rs 57 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.” The company’s stocks fell by at least 2.46% after the reported slump in net profit.

The telecom major, however, saw an improvement in its performance in Africa, where underlying revenues grew by 6% year on year, “the highest in the last nine quarters”. “Our efforts to improve the quality of customer acquisitions have resulted in reduction in customer churn to 4.9% from 6.0%,” said Raghunath Mandava, the MD and CEO of Airtels’ Africa operations.

On December 2, 2016, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio had announced free data, voice and video services for users as part of its Happy New Year offer till March 31, 2017.