Jio Plays the Scale Game Better than Airtel

When Bharti Airtel saw the ruthless market changes as Jio entered, the Sunil Mittal led company decided that they will not play the price game. Instead, Airtel went ahead and played the quality game by raising money and investing in networks. That decision allowed Airtel to stay afloat, and then eventually start making good money in India again. While Airtel boasts a higher average revenue per user (ARPU), it is actually Jio which is left with more in the pockets. Jio has outperformed Airtel in FY26 when it came to net profits.

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Airtel is Scaling, But Not as Fast as Jio

In the mobile business, Airtel has scaled fast to catch up with Jio. However, Jio is just in another league when it comes to numbers. Reliance owned telecom company has more than 10 million AirFiber and UBR (unique band radio) subscribers. We are not even talking about the wireline or fiber connections here. Airtel does not have half the AirFiber subscribers Jio does. This alone makes a huge difference.

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Then, Airtel has a higher ARPU of Rs 257 than Jio, which has an ARPU of Rs 214. Despite having a higher ARPU, it is Jio which has been able to make more net profits. Jio reported a net profit of Rs 28,173 crore in FY26, meanwhile Airtel reported a net profit of Rs 26,695 crore. This is a big difference.

What’s more is that even if Jio sees an uptick of ARPU by Rs 10-20 in the future, with a small tariff hike, it would be able to earn much more in volume than Airtel comparatively. Airtel would need a big hike in prices to move the ARPU needle from here. Reliance Jio, ahead of the IPO, definitely feels like has the strength to go on strong for years to come in the Indian market. With Jio also looking to possible explore international business in the future, it will be exciting to see what truly shapes the future of the company.