Carrying 8 per cent of global data traffic, Reliance Jio has become the world’s largest data company and made India the world’s largest data market, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Thursday. Addressing the 47th annual general meeting of RIL, Ambani said the telecom operator has completed the nationwide rollout of 5G and is eyeing the addition of 1 million new customers in the home broadband business every month.
“In eight years, Jio has grown to become the world’s largest mobile data company. Jio’s commitment to affordability has made its services accessible to all, with current data prices that are one-fourth of the global average and just 10 per cent of those in developed countries,” Ambani said. Each of Jio’s 490 million customers uses over 30 GB of data monthly on average, driving a 33 per cent growth in our data traffic over the past year, Ambani stressed.
Jio Platforms, the holding company for Jio and other digital businesses of the Reliance group, has also become one of the top 12 companies in India by net profits, Ambani said. JPL reported an 11.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in net profit to Rs 5,698 crore for the first quarter (April-June) of FY25 on robust subscriber growth.
In a key announcement, Ambani said the telco has completed its pan-India 5G rollout, hinting that material and capex deployment towards this would begin to ease now. The telco currently has more than 130 million 5G users, and over 85 per cent of the 5G radio cells belong to it, he said.
He stressed the company is keeping the home broadband business front and centre and is targeting 1 million new home broadband services every month. Jio currently has nearly 30 million home customers across digital broadband services and digital TV services.
JioAirFiber, the company’s 5G-based home Wi-Fi service launched in October last year, has acquired one million customers in the first six months, and the next 1 million air fibre customers in the succeeding 100 days, Ambani said.
At the AGM, Reliance Jio chairman Akash Ambani announced a bouquet of new offerings in the home entertainment space, including Jio TvOS, a new operating system for Jio TV. He also unveiled Jio TV+, a bundled offering including content from over a dozen OTT apps, hundreds of live TV channels, and a library of on-demand movies and shows.
Over a million small and medium businesses in India have embraced Jio, and it is the trusted partner for over 80 per cent of the top 5000 large enterprises in the country, Mukesh Ambani said. “We are also targeting over 20 million small and medium businesses, bringing them the connectivity to thrive in today’s digital age,” he added.
Eyes on 2G users
As more users migrate to 5G, Jio’s 4G network capacity is opening up, uniquely positioning the telco to absorb over 200 million 2G users in India, Ambani said. While all three private telecom operators have doubled down on efforts to tap into India’s vast 2G user base, Jio has attempted multiple times to woo this segment.
The industry-wide tariff hikes which took effect from July have seen rival Bharti Airtel raising tariffs by a lesser margin than Jio’s 12-25 per cent. However, Airtel’s hike had included its 2G subscriber base as well, a category Jio did not touch.
“Nearly all smartphones over Rs 8,000 sold in India are 5G-ready. As 5G phones become more affordable, 5G adoption on Jio’s network will accelerate, further boosting data consumption. With Jio’s lead in 5G coverage, capacity, and quality, we expect to capture the lion’s share of the accelerating 5G adoption,” Ambani said.
The company’s efforts are being boosted by its JioBharat phones, launched last year, Ambani said. “Today, nearly half of 2G customers upgrading their devices choose JioBharat,” he said.
First Published: Aug 29 2024 | 7:18 PM IST
