Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has reported its first-ever profit within 15 months of the start of commercial operations at Rs 504 crore for the third quarter versus Rs 271 crore loss in the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal. The telco posted a revenue of Rs 6,879 crore, up nearly 12% on quarter from Rs 6,147 crore in the previous quarter. EBITDA stood at Rs 2,628 crore, up 82.1% sequentially.
"Jio’s strong financial result reflects the fundamental strength of the business, significant efficiencies and right strategic initiatives. Jio has demonstrated that it can sustain its strong financial performance," Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited said in a statement.
“I would like to thank all our customers for partnering with us in this revolution which has made India a global digital powerhouse. I congratulate all our employees and partners for the strong performance," he added.
Jio said that its consolidated value of services stood at Rs 8,136 crore, up 12.8% over trailing quarter and consolidated EBIT stood at Rs 1,441 crore, up 452.1% over trailing quarter.
Jio’s average revenue per user (ARPU) stood at Rs 154, even as Bharti Airtel's ARPU declined to Rs 123 during the same period.
The 4G entrant said that it had continued its strong subscriber growth trend with gross adds during the quarter of 27.8 million as against 19.5 million in the trailing quarter. Its net additions for the quarter stood at 21.5 million versus 15.3 million in the trailing quarter.
Jio said that its subscribers continue to demonstrate high activity level with average data consumption per user per month of 9.6 GB and average voice consumption of 694 minutes per user per month; these are both highest in the industry and substantially higher than other operators.
Video consumption has crossed 200 crore hours per month on the network, while customer churn stood at 1.4% per month, which is the lowest in the industry.
