Reliance Jio's Q1 net profit zooms 45.6% to Rs 891 crore

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Friday reported 45.6 per cent rise in its net profit to Rs 891 crore for June quarter of 2019-20.

The company had recorded profit after tax of Rs 612 crore in the same period previous year.

Sequentially, the net profit for just-concluded period was 6.1 per cent higher than Rs 840 crore notched in the three months ended March 2019.

The operating revenue of the company - the newest entrant in the market and now the second largest in subscriber base - stood at Rs 11,679 crore, up 44 per cent over the year-ago period. Jio's subscriber base stood at 331.3 million as on June 30, 2019.

"Growth in Jio mobility services has continued to surpass all expectations...Jio management is focused on giving unmatched digital experience at most affordable price to every citizen of the country, and accordingly expanding the network capacity and coverage to keep pace with demand," Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited, said in a statement.

During the June quarter, the Average Revenue per user (ARPU) for Reliance Jio - which has unleashed one of the most brutal price wars in India's telecom market - was at Rs 122 per subscriber per month. This is, however, lower than ARPU of Rs 126.2 per subscriber per month seen in the March quarter.

"Jio has started connecting Enterprises with its next-gen connectivity solutions on the back of its extensive fiber network across the country. Beta trials of JioGigaFiber services have been very successful and the entire bouquet of smart home solutions would soon be rolled out to targeted 50 million households and beyond," Ambani said.

RIL had announced Jiogigafibre, its ambitious broadband offering, at its shareholder meeting in 2018.

Jio, Ambani said, is committed to power the Digital Revolution in India through its technology platforms across communication, entertainment, commerce, financial services, education, healthcare, and agriculture.

Established operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd are in the midst of a bruising tariff war following the entry of Reliance Jio, backed by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani. Jio's free voice and dirt-cheap data offering have dented the financial metrics of older operators, deepening the impact of regulatory decisions like cut in termination charges, even though the voice and data usage have been growing at a scorching pace.

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