Jio Platforms Q1 FY25 results: Net profit rises 11.7% to Rs 5,698 crore

ARPU stays put at Rs 181.7 for the fourth-straight quarter

Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL), which runs India’s largest mobile network operator Reliance Jio, on Friday reported a 11.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in net profit to Rs 5,698 crore for the first quarter (April-June) of financial year 2024-25 (FY25) on robust subscriber growth.

On a sequential basis, the holding company for Jio and other digital businesses of the Reliance group, witnessed its net profit rise by 1.98 per cent.

However, the telco’s average revenue per user (Arpu) in Q1FY25 remained unchanged at Rs 181.7 for the fourth straight month.

However, calculated yearly, Arpu was higher by 0.7 per cent in Q1.

The company said that it has achieved a better subscriber mix, including a rising instance of promotional 5G traffic, which is offered unlimited to subscribers and not yet charged separately.

In Q1, the revenue from operations grew 12.8 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 29,449 crore in Q1 FY25.

The rate of growth had been rising for the past two quarters. Revenue had grown by 13.37, 11.3 per cent, 10.7 per cent and 11.2 per cent in the previous four quarters.

The operating revenue growth in Q4FY24 was driven by robust subscriber growth across mobility and homes, and the benefit of mix improvement in Arpu, the company said.

Jio Platforms’ earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) for the quarter was a record Rs 14,638 crore, up 11.6  per cent Y-o-Y.

The telecom company had seen its annual net profit rise by 12 per cent in FY24 to Rs 21,423 crore, up from Rs 19,124 crore in FY23.

Largest data traffic

Overall, Jio Platforms gained 7.9 million new subscribers in the latest quarter, lower than the 10.9 million, and 11 million new subscribers added in the preceding two quarters, the company said.

The latest quarter was the seventh consecutive quarter of growth for the company after subscribers had declined for three consecutive quarters. Monthly churn remained low at 1.7 per cent.

Jio said 130 million subscribers have migrated to Jio’s 5G network, and are accounting for 31 per cent, of Jio’s wireless data traffic, up from 28 per cent in the preceding quarter. The telco stressed its 5G users now represent the largest 5G subscriber base for any telecom operator outside China. At the end of June, the telco had 489.7 million total subscribers.

Engagement on the network remained strong, with total data and voice traffic increasing by 32.8 per cent and 6.6 per cent annually, respectively.

The company said Jio has become the largest operator globally in terms of data traffic. Per capita data consumption by Jio users rose to 30.3 GB, or more than 1 GB/day.

Launched initially in eight cities in September, last year, JioAirFiber is now available in over 5,900 cities. The service is expected to accelerate Jio’s home penetration from 10 million homes currently to over 100 million homes. Jio has recorded its highest ever quarterly home connect at over 1.1 million.

“Our new prepaid plans would foster industry innovation towards 5G and AI and drive sustainable growth. Jio with its superior network and new service propositions would further build its market leadership with a customer first approach,” said Akash M Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm.

The average daily data usage for AirFiber subscribers is at 13 GB, 30 percent higher than JioFiber subscribers.