Reliance Jio Q3 net profit at Rs 1,350 cr up 62.5%

Reliance Jio has posted a 62.5 per cent growth in its net profit for the third quarter (Q3) ending December at Rs 1,350 crore backed by strong voice and data traffic.

"Jio's Standalone Net Profit is Rs 1,350 crore, exceptional item (expense) during the quarter of Rs 177 crore related to AGR (adjusted gross revenue) dues and subscriber base as on 31st December 2019 of 370 million (32.1 per cent YoY growth)," the telco said in a statement.

The company's average revenue per user (ARPU) during the quarter in question was at Rs 128.4 per subscriber per month, total wireless data traffic of 1,208 crore GB (39.9 per cent YoY growth), while total voice traffic stood at 82,640 crore minutes (30.3 per cent YoY growth).

Jio's Q2 ARPU in the previous July-September quarter was at Rs 120.

During Q3, the company had standalone revenue from operations, including access revenues, of Rs 13,968 crore, standalone EBITDA of Rs 5,601 crore and EBITDA margin of 40.1 per cent.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani 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," he added.

Jio's subscriber base as on December 31, 2019, was at 370 million with a net addition of 14.8 million during the quarter in consideration.

There was strong gross addition of 37.1 million during the quarter and 135.7 million during the previous twelve months with a wider 4G network presence and attractive bundling of Jio digital services as key differentiators.

The company said there was elimination of 22 million subscribers during the quarter, primarily excessively heavy voice users, owing to implementation of IUC tariffs due to regulatory uncertainty. For recharges done by Jio customers effective 10th October, calls made to other mobile operators are charged at the prevailing IUC rate (6 paise per minute) through top-up vouchers.

Jio's customer engagement continues to be robust with average data consumption per user per month of 11.1 GB and average voice consumption of 760 minutes per user per month.

Jio became a net recipient of access charges within 2 months of implementation of IUC tariffs, with outgoing traffic in overall offnet traffic reducing to 48 per cent by end of the quarter. This was combined with associated elimination of excessively heavy voice users, with underlying churn remaining stable, it said.

Jio introduced new "All-in-one" plans with unlimited voice and data effective December 6, 2019. These new plans have a fair usage policy for calls to other mobile networks and provide up to 300 per cent more benefits to consumers, Jio said.

Reliance Jio has become the largest telecom operator in India, adding 5.6 million mobile subscribers in November to take its total to 369.93 million and holding a 32.04 per cent share in the Indian mobile services market.

As per regulator TRAI subscriber data, Bharti Airtel has also increased its market share in November, adding 1.65 million mobile users in the month to end with 327.30 million users that gives it a 28.35 per cent market share.

According to TRAI, losses were led by Vodafone Idea, which lost 36.41 million subscribers during the month and a reduced market share of 29.12 per cent.

Last year, Jio became the number one company in terms of revenue market share with a 31.7 per cent share of AGR.

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( With inputs from IANS )