YOU ARE AT:5GIndian carrier Jio ends March with 108 million 5G subscribers

Indian carrier Jio ends March with 108 million 5G subscribers

Jio noted that 5G accounted for 28% of all wireless data carried on its network

Indian company Jio Platforms ended fiscal Q4, ending March 31, with 108 million subscribers in the 5G segment.

Jio noted that 5G accounted for 28% of all wireless data carried on its network.

Mukesh Ambani, chair and managing director of parent Reliance Industries, said: “Ubiquitous, high-quality, affordable internet is the backbone of Digital India and Jio takes pride in contributing to this. Our new prepaid plans would foster industry innovation towards 5G and AI and drive sustainable growth.”

Jio announced its new unlimited plans earlier this month. These new plans imply an increase of 13-25% compared to the previous plans.

Jio Platform’s net profit climbed 12% year-on-year to INR55.8 billion ($669.6 million), while operating revenue surged 13.3% year-on-year to INR338.4 billion.

Jio Platforms is the holding company of Reliance Jio, the largest mobile operator in India by subscribers.

The telco noted its quarterly ARPU was up 1.6% to INR181.70, adding that the ARPU growth slowed due to an increasing mix of promotional 5G plans, offering unlimited data to subscribers.

Reliance Jio Infocomm has been rapidly expanding its 5G network using Standalone (SA) architecture since October 2022.

Jio said it had acquired rights for additional spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in Bihar and West Bengal in the recent spectrum auction carried out by the Indian government, increasing its spectrum footprint to 26,801 megahertz. The Indian government confirmed it sold a total of 141 megahertz of spectrum across eight bands, including 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.3 GHz and 26 GHz.

Reliance Jio Infocomm is exploring the possibility of a major initial public offering (IPO) in 2025, Indian newspaper Business Standard recently reported, citing a note by investment company Jefferies.

The brokerage firm also suggested that Jio might debut with a valuation around $112 billion, potentially contributing a 7-5% increase in the share price of its parent company, Reliance Industries.

“Jio leading the way in the recent tariff hikes unlike in the past while keeping feature phone tariffs unchanged shows focus on monetization and subscriber market share gains. These moves create a case for a possible public listing in calendar year 2025 in our view,” Jefferies stated.

Jefferies also suggested that the IPO could consist of an offer for sale by minority shareholders. It speculated that Reliance Industries might consider spinning off Reliance Jio Infocomm and listing it separately post-price discovery, according to the report.

ABOUT AUTHOR

Juan Pedro Tomás
Juan Pedro Tomás
Juan Pedro covers Global Carriers and Global Enterprise IoT. Prior to RCR, Juan Pedro worked for Business News Americas, covering telecoms and IT news in the Latin American markets. He also worked for Telecompaper as their Regional Editor for Latin America and Asia/Pacific. Juan Pedro has also contributed to Latin Trade magazine as the publication's correspondent in Argentina and with political risk consultancy firm Exclusive Analysis, writing reports and providing political and economic information from certain Latin American markets. He has a degree in International Relations and a master in Journalism and is married with two kids.