Reliance Comm shares fall as earnings disappoint

Reuters
Telecommunication towers are pictured through hanging flower pots at a residential building in Kolkata December 11, 2012. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/Files

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares in Reliance Communications Ltd fell on Monday after the mobile carrier's consolidated net profit dropped more than expected in the January-March quarter. Reliance Communications, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, said late on Friday consolidated net profit fell 48.5 percent to 1.56 billion rupees ($26 million) for its fourth quarter, from 3.03 billion rupees reported a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a net profit of 2.15 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data. The results of the latest and the year-ago quarters included one-off items. Reliance Communications stock was down 2.4 percent to 119.15 rupees as of 11:32 a.m. (Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Rafael Nam)