Q2 results: Reliance Jio logs 26.9% jump in net profit as Arpu rises

Gross revenue rises 22.8 percent annually to Rs 28,506 crore in second quarter

The country's largest mobile network operator, Reliance Jio, saw its net profit rise 26.9 per cent to Rs 4,729 crore year-on-year (YoY) in the second quarter of FY23, up from 24.1 per cent in the first quarter, led by an increase in revenue and data volumes.

Jio, which is carrying out beta trials of the 5G service, saw revenue growth of 22.8 per cent on a YoY basis, the company announced on Friday.

Jio Platforms, which act as the holding company for Jio and other digital businesses of the Reliance group, gained 7.7 million mobile subscribers in Q2. This was the second consecutive quarter of growth for the company, after subscribers declined for three consecutive quarters. The company had earlier blamed SIM consolidation for the decline in its customer base. At the end of Q2, Jio’s subscriber count stood at 427.6 million, continuing to be the highest among telcos.

This drove an increase in revenue from operations, which grew 22.7 per cent annually to Rs 24,275 crore in the second quarter. The average revenue per user (Arpu) in Q2 stood at Rs 177.2, which was 23.5 per cent higher YoY.

Earnings before interest, tax depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) grew 29.2 per cent YoY to Rs 12,011 crore. The margin increased by 250 bps to 49.5 per cent, as the Arpu increase in the company’s connectivity business was partly offset by inflationary pressure on operating costs. Cash profit for the quarter was Rs 10,966 crore, up 33.6 per cent YoY.

The average data consumption per user per month increased to 22.2 GB, up from 20.8 GB in the first quarter of FY23. The voice usage per user rose to 969 minutes. Total data consumption was 28.2 billion Gigabytes on the company's networks.

“We saw consistent net subscriber additions and higher engagement in Digital Services segment. Jio has announced beta trials for its industry-leading Standalone 5G services and is making rapid progress for an ambitious and the fastest ever roll out of True 5G on a pan-India basis,” Reliance Industries Limited Chairman Mukesh Ambani said in a statement.