Mumbai: Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) reported a profit of ₹ 681 crore for the September quarter (Q2), a rise of 11.3% on a sequential basis, on the back of ₹ 9,240 crore in revenue from its operations, the company said. RIL on Wednesday also said it will buy majority stakes in Den Networks Ltd and Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd for ₹ 5,230 crore—a move that will boost Reliance Jio’s broadband service, Jio GigaFiber.
Reliance Jio had reported a net profit of ₹ 612 crore on the back of an operating revenue of ₹ 8,109 crore during the June quarter.
The Mumbai-headquartered telecom operator added 37 million customers during Q2, taking the total customer base to 252.3 million at the end of the September quarter.
Its average revenue per user (Arpu) stood at ₹ 131.7 per subscriber per month during the quarter. Bharti Airtel Ltd, which was the market leader before the Vodafone Idea merger, reported Arpu of ₹ 105 during the June quarter. Bharti Airtel, which hasn’t yet reported its Q2 results, has seen its Arpu decline sharply in the past few quarters as a result of pricing pressures in the telecom sector.
“We, at Jio, are glad with our progress towards our mission with more than 250 million subscribers on our network within 25 months of commencement of services,” RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani said.
“Our next generation FTTH and enterprise services are now being made available to our customers to further enhance our value proposition to our customers,” Ambani added.
Reliance Industries is also buying majority stakes in Den Networks Ltd and Hathway Cable and Datacom Ltd for ₹ 5,230 crore. RIL will make a “primary investment of ₹ 2,045 crore through a preferential issue under SEBI regulations and secondary purchase of ₹ 245 crore from the existing promoters for a 66 per cent stake in DEN”, the company said in a statement. It will make a primary investment of ₹ 2,940 crore through a preferential issue for a 51.3% stake in Hathway.
RIL would also make open offers to minority shareholders of GTPL Hathway Ltd, a company jointly controlled by Hathway with 37.3% stake, and Hathway Bhawani Cabletel and Datacomm Ltd, a subsidiary of Hathway.
On Wednesday, RIL shares fell 1.27% to ₹ 1,148.90 on the BSE, while the benchmark Sensex closed at 34,779 points, down 1.09%.
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