RIL secures Rs 7,558 cr investment in digital fibre infrastructure trust

The fibre optic unit, which was earlier part of Reliance Industries Limited's (RIL) subsidiary Reliance Jio, has a debt of Rs 87,296 crore, which includes suppliers' credit

Reliance Jio on Friday announced an investment of Rs 7,558 crore by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia for a 51 per cent stake in the the digital fibre infrastructure trust.

The fibre optic unit, which was earlier part of Reliance Industries Limited subsidiary Reliance Jio, has a debt of Rs 87,296 crore, which includes the suppliers' credit. The company said induction of strong partners will help it manage critical asset base.

The stake purchase was announced along with the company's second quarter result was saw the Jio's net profit increase  nearly tripled to Rs 2,844 crore on a year on year basis. Revenue increased 34.4  per cent quarter Rs 17,678 crore. The average revenue per user was up 3 per cent quarter on quarter basis to Rs 144. Wireless gross addition showed a strong sequential increase to 27.2 million as lockdown restrictions began to ease during the quarter. But net additions grew only by 7.3 million to 405.6 million. 

"Monthly churn rate for wireless subscribers increased to 1.69% with follow through impact of Covid-19 on SIM consolidation and recharge cycle of migrant population," company said.

"Jio has become the only operator (outside China) to have reached the milestone of 400 million subscribers in a single country market," company said in a exchange filing.

 Reliance Industries Limited had earlier raised funds via similar structures for Jio's telecom tower assets and for its promoter Mukesh Ambani-owned gas pipeline company. Canadian financial powerhouse Brookfield had picked up stakes in both the telecom tower and gas pipeline InvITs.