In the absence of any headline tariff hike, Reliance Jio – the country’s largest telecom operator by market share – on Friday posted its lowest revenue and profit growth in the last seven quarters during the January-March period.
Jio Platforms’ consolidated revenue from operations rose 2.3% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 25,465 crore during the quarter, while net profit during the period rose 2.1% to Rs 4,984 crore.
Jio Platforms houses the digital and connectivity businesses of parent Reliance Industries, and a significant contribution to its business comes from its telecom arm Reliance Jio.
Jio added 6.4 million subscribers, higher than the 5.3 million added in the preceding quarter. As on March 31, the company’s total subscribers stood at 439.3 million, up from 432.9 million as of December end. “Jio’s industry leading net subscriber addition was 29.2 million for FY23 with monthly churn remaining stable at 2%,” the company said.
Jio’s average revenue per user (Arpu) per month rose marginally q-o-q to Rs 178.8 during the quarter from Rs 178.2 in the preceding. Analysts had expected the company’s Arpu at around Rs 179.
Owing to weak revenue growth, the company’s consolidated operating profit or Ebitda rose 2% q-o-q to `12,767 crore. Ebitda margins fell marginally q-o-q to 50.1% in the March quarter as the impact of lower spectrum usage charge (SUC) was fully accounted for in the previous two quarters, according to analysts.
Total data traffic rose 4.5% q-o-q to 30.3 billion GB. Part of the growth can also be attributed to the high number of fibre broadband users added during the quarter. “We are witnessing a 3-4 times increase in data consumption at areas where we have deployed 5G. We have been also been seeing upgrades by consumers in our home broadband plans,” said Kiran Thomas, president at Reliance Jio.
“Jio has taken formidable strides in pioneering 5G rollout across the country with unmatched speed of execution. 5G has led to a significant improvement in customer experience, reflected in the higher engagement levels among Jio users. Jio remains committed to build a robust digital society with tailormade technology platforms which will drive sustained growth in earning and value for all stakeholders,” Akash M Ambani, chairman at Reliance Jio, said.
The average data consumption per user for the company rose over 3% to 23.1 GB per month.
The voice consumption on the network rose 3.14% q-o-q in the January-March quarter to 1.31 trillion minutes. Accordingly, the average voice consumption per user per month rose 1.8% on quarter to 1,003 minutes.
On a standalone basis (Reliance Jio), the company’s net profit rose 1.7% q-o-q to Rs 4,716 crore, whereas its revenue rose 1.7% q-o-q to `22,998 crore in January-March.
“Jio continues to digitally empower millions of citizens across the nation, extending True 5G reach to 2,300+ cities and towns in a short span of 6 months. With steady growth in mobility and FTTH subscriber base and an expanding bouquet of content and digital services, the Jio business continues to deliver impressive growth in operating profits,” said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, RIL.