Reliance Jio Now Has 370 Million Subscribers, Adding 14.8 Million in a Quarter

Reliance Jio earnings and operational performance figures for the quarter ending December 31 were released on Friday, as usual a part of the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) earnings figures. The company noted at the end of the quarter, it had 370 million subscribers, which is a net addition of 14.8 million subscribers since the end of the last quarter in September 30, where it had reported a subscriber base of 355.2 million. Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) also reported other operational metrics, such as average revenue per user (ARPU), as well as total voice and data traffic.

In terms of subscribers, the 370 million figure announced by Reliance Jio takes into account gross additions of 37.1 million subscribers during the quarter. RJIL also notes that 135.7 million subscribers were the gross additions for the  entire previous year, ended December 31. Overall, year-over-year (YoY), Reliance Jio saw a 32.1 percent growth in subscribers in the quarter.

In terms of ARPU, Reliance Jio reports a revenue of Rs. 128.4 per subscriber per month in the past quarter, which is up from Rs. 120 in the previous quarter. This time around, Jio hasn't published churn rate figures.

Jio reports total wireless data traffic in the period was 12.08 billion gigabytes (GB), up from 12.02 billion GB in the previous quarter, and a 39.9 percent growth YoY, based on an average data consumption per user per month of 11.1GB, down from 11.7GB in the previous quarter.

In terms of voice total voice traffic during quarter, Jio says it saw 826.4 billion minutes, which is up from 812.62 billion from the previous quarter, a 30.3 percent growth YoY, and based on an average usage of 760 minutes per user per month.

Other notable details revealed by Jio in its Q4 2019 earnings figures include the elimination of 22 million subscribers during the quarter, "primarily excessively heavy voice users, owing to implementation of IUC tariffs due to regulatory uncertainty." It also added that the Jio Phone Diwali 2019 plan that was marketed by Reliance Retail and offered the smart feature phone at Rs. 699 without exchange, was well received by customers. This last is a reiteration of its previous quarter's statement.

Finally, it also added that "Jio became a net recipient of access charges within 2 months of implementation of IUC tariffs, with outgoing traffic in overall offnet traffic reducing 48 percent by the end of the quarter."

Commenting on the results, Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited said: "Jio has continued on its unprecedented growth journey receiving overwhelming customer response for best in class mobile connectivity services. We are delivering on our promise to be the driver of digital revolution in the country. Jio is also determined to redefine the wireline infrastructure, home entertainment and enterprise market in India with its FTTx services which bundle best-in-class connectivity with bouquet of digital content and services.[..] To drive the next leg of growth, a truly transformational and disruptive digital services company has been set-up which will bring together India's No.1 connectivity platform, leading digital app ecosystem and world's best tech capabilities, for creating a truly Digital Society for each Indian."