Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, could lose as much as Rs 150 billion ($2.1 billion) this fiscal year when costs such as handset subsidies are included, said Chris Lane and Samuel Chen, analysts at Sanford C Bernstein & Co.

That would be a bigger deficit than those of its larger rivals Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd, even though the company known as Jio will probably overcome them over the next 12 months in terms of service revenue and subscribers, the analysts wrote in a note to clients dated February 26. The fiscal year of Jio’s parent, Reliance Industries Ltd ends March 31.

Jio, part of the group controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, introduced a free-for-life call service and a price war in one of the worlds most crowded mobile markets. That push, which has included offering low-cost phones, has resulted in net handset subsidies likely amounting to Rs 72 billion and a total invested capital of Rs 2.6 trillion, Bernstein estimates.

“The phone subsidies are carried by a separate unit, Reliance Retail Ltd, and so aren’t visible on Jio’s profit and loss statement, according to Lane and Chen. Jio also uses non-standard depreciation metrics in its accounting,” they said.

Ambani’s wireless phone business, which he has said may conduct an initial public offering, has reported consecutive quarterly profits. To make a positive return on investment, the carrier will have to reduce handset subsidies and increase revenue from users, according to Bernstein.

Vodafone Idea will probably post a net loss of Rs 32 billion for the year ending March. Bharti Airtel is expected to report a Rs 7.5 billion..

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