Jio Grows to 40.56 Crore Subscribers, Adding 73 Lakhs in Q2 2020

Reliance Jio now has a base of 40.56 crore subscribers, Reliance Industries revealed while announcing its earnings for the second quarter ending September 30 on Friday. The telecom operator, which is already the biggest telco in India, had added 73 lakh subscribers in the quarter, down from the 99 lakh new customers added in the previous quarter ended on June 30. In terms of average revenue per user (ARPU), Jio stated that it generated Rs. 145 per subscriber a month in the second quarter. This shows an increment of 3.2 percent from the Rs. 140.3 ARPU reported previously.

With its total subscribers reaching 40.56 crore mark in the September quarter, Jio saw a 13.96 percent of year-over-year growth in its subscriber base from the 35.59 crores reported in the same period last year. The Mumbai-based operator, however, reported a monthly churn rate of 1.69 percent during the quarter, which is up from 0.46 percent reported in the first quarter. It said that the increase was due to the impact of COVID-19 on SIM consolidation and recharge cycle of migrant population.

“With large capital raise in last six months across Jio and Retail business, we have welcomed several strategic and financial investors into Reliance family,” said Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited, in a prepared statement. “We continue to pursue growth initiatives in each of our businesses with a focus on the India opportunity."

Jio said that its average wireless data consumption per user a month was at 12 gigabytes (GB) during the quarter. The operator also noted that it saw an average voice consumption at 776 minutes per user a month. Moreover, total wireless data traffic rose to 1,442 crore GB, up nearly 20 percent year-over-year.

Jio earned a quarterly net profit of Rs. 3,020 crores, which shows nearly two times increase or over 205.05 percent year-over-year growth from the Rs. 990 crores earned in the same period last year. Standalone revenues from operations that include access revenues reached Rs. 21,708 crores in the second quarter from Rs. 12,354 crores generated in the same quarter last year.

Alongside announcing the earning figures, Jio mentioned in its announcement that the Jio UPI pan-India rollout on the MyJio app was completed during the quarter. It was initially rolled out in January to select users. Jio Platforms also completed all the recent investments, excluding the one from Google, the release said.

Last month, Jio launched its Postpaid Plus service with features including unlimited voice calls, access to streaming apps, and in-flight connectivity to expand its postpaid user base in the country — alongside attracting new prepaid customers. The telco also recently announced its partnership with Qualcomm to move towards 5G in the future.

Earlier this month, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) announced that Jio became the first mobile operator in the country to cross the mark of 40 crore customers. The operator added 35.54 lakh subscribers in July, as per the data provided by the regulator.

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