Reliance Jio records highest-ever subscriber additions in June quarter as video consumption soars
Reliance Jio has over 215 million subscribers in less than two years of its commercial launch, making it the fastest-growing telecom network in the world.
Reliance Jio, the disruptor of Indian telecom, is adding subscribers faster than ever before. The service provider notched up 28.7 million subscribers in the June 2018 quarter — the highest ever for any quarter since Jio started commercial operations in 2016. Its overall subscriber-base now stands at 215.3 million, making it the fastest-growing telecom network in the world.
“Gross additions were at 30.5 million and the churn was only 1.8 million, implying the lowest industry churn rate at 0.30 percent per month,” Reliance said in a statement.
Data consumption on the Jio network stood at a staggering 642 crore GB in the June quarter, growing 27 percent from the previous quarter. Per month per user consumption of data was 10.6 GB in the June quarter. Video consumption drove most of the usage on the Jio network, increasing to 340 crore hours per month. Average video consumption per subscriber was 15.4 hours per month, Reliance announced.
The average monthly voice consumption per user stood at 744 minutes. Jio Postpaid plan with “attractive international calling tariffs” and roaming plans was seeing good customer traction too, Reliance revealed. However, Jio recorded a slight drop in average revenues per user (ARPU) - a key metric that determines the financial health of a telco.
ARPUs dropped to Rs 134.50 from Rs 137 in the March quarter. Standalone profits stood at Rs 612 crore for the April-to-June period, registering an increase of 20 percent from Rs 510 crore in the January-to-March period. This marked Jio’s third consecutive profitable quarter.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said in a statement,
“We doubled our customer base and most user metrics in the last 12 months. 215 million customers within 22 months of start is a record that no technology company has been able to achieve anywhere in the world.”
Ambani added,
“The continued strength in financial results of Jio despite competitive intensity reinforces the customer uptake of its services and its strong operating leverage. Jio has built an ecosystem for digital services and its affordable and simplified pricing strategy offers every Indian a chance to experience the ‘power of data’.”
Earlier in July, at the 41st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Reliance Industries, Ambani made a slew of launches that could potentially change the broadband connectivity and entertainment landscape of India. Reliance announced the rollout of Jio GigaFiber — a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband service — across 1,100 cities. RIL said that it is beta-testing the service in “tens of thousands of homes” already.
Jio GigaFiber is said to be the most-advanced fibre optic network in India, and will be offering internet speeds of upto 1 Gbps. It promises to be a one-stop connectivity product built to support landlines, broadband connections, IPTVs, smart TVs, gaming sets, and more. Reliance is inviting registrations for the Jio GigaFiber service on MyJio app and Jio.com August 15 onward.
“FTTH and enterprise services with strong fibre backbone across the country would further establish Jio’s leadership as a digital services provider,” Ambani stated.