MUMBAI: Reliance Communications ’ third-quarter net loss of Rs 531 crore. The firm said the loss was because of competition, increase in amortisation and interest expense aggregating to Rs. 278 crore on account of capitalisation of 850 MHz spectrum liberalisation fee. The company also said this quarter took a hit because it was the first one after the shut down of its profitable CDMA business.Sources say freebies by new entrant Reliance Jio, demonetization drive by the government have hit the firm and expected to drag the next quarter as well.The Anil Ambani-controlled company's total income from operations stood at Rs 4922 crore, a drop of 4.3% when compared to the previous quarter and a fall of 7% on a yearly basis. It closed its CDMA business last year.Reliance Communications in December signed a deal with Canada-based Brookfield Group to sell a 51% stake in the telecom company’s tower unit, Reliance Infratel, for Rs 11,000 crore. The all cash deal was intended to reduce the firm's debt which on a net basis was Rs 42,000 crore at the end of September.In September, RCom announced its long-awaited merger with unlisted operator Aircel, marking the first move toward consolidation in the telecom space and creating the country's fourth-largest phone company in terms of customers and revenue. It is also in the process of also merging with Sistema Shyam Teleservices.Revenue per minute reduced by 10.5% to 40 paise, while total minutes of usage rose by 4.3% on a sequential basis to 102.1 billion. The total data traffic fell by 10% sequentially mainly due to "severe competitive intensity".Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Reliance Communication dropped by 0.6% sequentially to Rs 154 while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) fell by 21.8% at Rs 1206 crore.The telco had 32 million customer for data services, including 23.4 million for 3G/4G services, in the third quarter.Shares of Reliance Communications closed at Rs 34.6, down 2.26%, on the BSE Friday. Results were released on Saturday when markets were closed.