Vodafone takes $5 billion charge against new price war in India

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Mobile telecoms group Vodafone reported a first-half net loss of 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) on Tuesday after writing down the value of its Indian business by the same amount due to the start of a price war sparked by a powerful new rival. Chief Executive Vittorio Colao said an improvement in its European markets was "modestly ahead" of expectations, led by Germany and Italy, but competition in India had intensified and was expected to hit its cash flow. The three biggest players in the Indian market, leader Bharti Airtel , Vodafone and Idea Cellular , have seen the market thrown into turmoil by the arrival of Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is backed by India's richest businessman Mukesh Ambani.