Jio looks strongest in India survival game

Reliance Jio has continued its march to the top of the Indian telco rankings, reporting another quarter of monstrous growth adding another 26.5 million new customers.

Total new customers across the quarter stood at 27.9 million, with a churn rate at 0.25%, with the average data consumption per user per month of 9.7 GB and average voice consumption of 716

minutes. ARPU remained under pressure, dropping 11%, but this is hardly unusual for the country. Spreadsheets are being attacked from every angle, and it seems to be a case of who can last the longest.

“A full-blown social, mobile and digital revolution is underway across the world, and I am glad that India is not being left behind in any way with the advent of Jio,” said Mukesh Ambani, MD of Reliance Industries. “Everyone at Jio is today proud to have played a pivotal role in transforming the digital landscape of this country and empowering millions of Indians with all the leading digital tools and skills. Jio is offering the ‘power of data’ to each Indian to fulfil every dream and to collectively take India to Global Digital Leadership.”

Looking at the financials, revenues stood at $3.6 billion for the quarter with net profits slightly up year-on-year to $76.6 million. Growth might not be exceptional, but in comparison to competitors Jio is having a great time. Bharti Airtel posted its lowest quarterly profit in 15 years, while Idea was another which suffered through the last twelve months.

The India telco space is chaos right now. Consolidation is everywhere, while profits are shrinking at an alarming rate. Winning the telco battle in India seems to be a case of surviving longer than competitors. Last man standing collects all the glories.