INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Infocomm reported a 65% jump in net profit for the January-March period, its
sixth straight profitable quarter,
boosted by strong user additions and data consumption.
Sequentially, net profit grew 1%, constrained by a continuing fall in average revenue
per user (ARPU) and higher costs, which weighed on operating margins
Earnings had increased 22% sequentially in the October-December period.
Profit rose to Rs 840 crore in the fourth quarter of the financial
year from Rs 510 crore a year earlier, the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco said in a statement on Thursday.
Operating revenue rose 56% on year
and 7% sequentially to Rs 11,106 crore, backed by a net addition of 26.6 million subscribers, monthly average data usage of 10.9 GB and
voice consumption of 823 minutes
The mobile phone operator is playing a key role in helping parent company Reliance Industries transit from an oil-and-retail conglomerate to
a technology platform company.
Jio ended the quarter with 306.7 million users, closing in on its rivals
since its entry in September 2016 with cheap mobile internet services, saw ARPU, a key performance parameter, fall for the fifth straight
amortisation) margin fell 5 basis points on quarter to 39%, with total expenses rising almost 8% on quarter, mainly on the back of higher
network operating costs, finance expenses, and depreciation and amortisation charges.
Thakur expects margins to improve as higher capacity
utilisation leads to more revenue.
Jio demerged its tower and fibre assets in the just-ended quarter, which helped the company reduce
liabilities of about Rs 1,07,000 crore from the balance sheet, said Thakur
expand its 4G network to cater to surging data demand, having recorded 9.56 billion GB of wireless data traffic
Thakur downplayed concerns over network congestion, saying it was restricted to a few pockets
