Jio net profit up 28%, average revenue per user increases

NEW DELHI: India’s largest telecom services provider Reliance Jio reported a net profit of ₹4,512 crore for the quarter ended September, 28% higher than ₹3,528 crore in the same quarter last financial year, even as sequentially profits rose by 4.2% from ₹4,335 crore in the quarter ended June.

The telecom arm of Reliance Industries Limited clocked revenues of ₹22,521 crore in the same period, up 20% over ₹18,735 crore and up 3% sequentially from ₹21,873 crore, it said in a note to the exchanges on Friday.

The average revenue per user (ARPU), a key metric of profitability for a telecom service provider, was at ₹177.2, during the quarter, 23.5% higher on-year and up 0.8% on-quarter, “led by higher customer engagement”. ARPU for the previous quarter was at ₹175.7 and ₹143.6 per month for the quarter ended September 2021.

“The 5G rollout now underway will substantially improve work consumption as well as the subscriber base and this is expected to improve both, the per capita usage as well as on a looking forward basis,” Kiran Thomas, director of Jio Platforms, said.

The numbers missed the quarterly market estimates. Analysts at Emkay had estimated revenue growth of 5.3% on-quarter with an 5.6% growth in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).

Analysts at ICICI Securities expected EBITDA to grow by 5.4% on-quarter to ₹12,000 crore and benefit from lower spectrum usage charges. Net profit was expected to rise 6.2% on-quarter to ₹4,800 crore.

For the quarter ended September, EBITDA was ₹11,489 crore, up by 4.7% on-quarter, driven by strong revenue growth and margin improvement. EBITDA margin was at 51.01%.

Average revenue per user was higher than market expectations of ₹178, driven by increased usage and bettering subscriber quality, Thomas said.

The service provider competes with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea that are yet to release their quarterly financial numbers.

“We saw consistent net subscriber additions and higher engagement in the digital services segment. Jio has announced beta trial for its industry-leading stand-alone 5G services and is making rapid progress for an ambitious and the fastest ever roll-out of True 5G on a pan-India basis,” said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited.

THE TELECOM ARM OF RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LIMITED CLOCKED REVENUES OF ₹22,521 CRORE IN THE SAME PERIOD