INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio Infocomm reported its third straight profitable quarter, with a 20% expansion sequentially in the bottom line for
the April-June period on the back of strong user additions and increased data usage.
The Mukesh Ambani-controlled company, which has upended
the market since its entry in September 2016 with cheap mobile Internet services, posted a net profit of ?612 crore for the fiscal first
youngest telecom operator, which is playing a key role in helping parent Reliance Industries transition from an oil and retail conglomerate
to a technology platform company.
Jio's revenue surpassed that of Vodafone India which had recently posted ?7,860 crore in the fiscal
first quarter.
The results surprised analysts, considering the weak performance by rivals in a market that is reeling under pricing
pressure, rising cost and a cut in international call termination rates.
"Jio has beaten estimates by clocking strong 13.8% sequential
Securities.
Market leader Bharti Airtel on Thursday posted a consolidated net profit of ?97.30 crore for the quarter, that too after taking
an exceptional gain on its Africa operations
according to industry analysts.
At Jio, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation totalled ?3,147 crore, up by 16.8%
prime customers and also gave discounts to those who recharged online.
This July, the telco continued with the loyalty programme, Prime, for
The membership, started last year, was set to expire on March 31.
Meanwhile, industry experts do not see the tariff war ebbing in the
partner at telecom and media consultancy Capital
Its quarterly Ebitda margin expanded to 38.8% compared with 37.8% in the preceding one
Airtel, in comparison, had a margin of 34%.
SUBSCRIBER ADDITION
Jio added 28.7 million subscribers on a net basis during the three months,
its highest ever in any quarter, to end June with 215.3 million users on its network.
Total wireless data traffic was 642 crore GB, about
27% more than the previous quarter
Average data consumption per user per month was 10.6 GB, while average voice traffic was 744 minutes per month.
It had debt of ?71,000 crore
some of the interest was being capitalised.
The company recorded a capital expenditure of about ?17,000 crore in the June quarter, compared
with ?14,000 crore in the previous quarter.
The group during its annual general meeting announced the roll out home broadband service, Jio
Giga-Fibre, which will take on the likes of Airtel, Tata Sky, Den Networks, and Hathway Cable Datacom.
It also came out with a higher-end
It sold more than 25 million base JioPhones in one year.
