Reliance Jio’s data traffic share hits 60%; India changed from ‘Data Dark’ to ‘Data Rich’, says Mukesh Ambani

India's largest private telecommunication company Reliance Jio's share in overall data traffic in the country rose to 60 per cent in the financial year 2023-24, according to Reliance Industries' annual report.

The telecom major's investments in next-generation networks and other digital technologies would help sustain the competitive edge of the brand and also assist in increasing its market share. This would also ensure strong and consistent shareholder returns in the coming years, according to a PTI report.

Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, said that Reliance Jio turned a “Data Dark India” into a “Data Rich” country with the brand offering high-speed internet service of 4G and 5G network rollouts in world record time, in the company's annual report.

Jio's roll-out of the next-generation fixed wireless networks will catalyse high-speed broadband services. The rural areas are expected to see a higher usage of the services due to the limited last-mile infrastructure at the moment, the company said in its annual report.

Jio is deploying its technological developments at scale in the country, and later, they will be taken to the rest of the world, as per the report.

"Jio has built enough data capacity to serve over a billion Indians for their digital needs at homes, offices, and on the go. Jio’s share of data traffic in India has increased to about 60 per cent, making it the most preferred broadband network," the telecom major said in the annual report.

Jio recorded its highest average per capita data usage in March, at 28.7 GB per month. This marks a 32 per cent increase year-on-year in the overall data traffic to nearly 149 exabytes in the financial year 2023-24 with the increase in the company's 5 G users and fixed broadbands, as per the report. One exabyte unit is one billion gigabytes.

Jio's telecom market leadership:

The Reliance-owned telecom giant leads in India's telecom market in both mobile and fixed-line categories with a total user base of 48.18 crore, which comprises 10.8 crore 5G subscribers and 1.2 crore fixed broadband subscribers, as per the report.

"The Jio True5G network now carries almost 30 per cent of Jio’s mobility data traffic, and the entire 5G data is now carried on Jio's own 5G 4G combo core. Jio is the only operator in India rolling out 5G on Standalone architecture," said Reliance in the report.

Reliance highlighted in its annual report that the brand is “strongly positioned” to lead the progress of India towards 5G infrastructure. Jio's deep fibre presence and rollout has connected 100 million premises with digital solutions. The company's connectivity and infrastructure will increase the market share of Jio, said Reliance.

Threats and what's next

On the challenges and threats side, the company highlighted that any form of disruptive technological change is likely to make current technology obsolete and the new entry of a disruptive company which increases the price competition in the market has a chance to impact the long-term returns for the brand, as per the report.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani says Jio will continue to play a major role in building India's digital infrastructure capabilities.

"With the launch of Jio 4G in 2016, we set out on a journey to make digital inclusion in India a reality. Jio turned a Data Dark India into a Data Rich nation, supplying every Indian home with affordable, high-speed 4G data, and this year, Jio has further enhanced the country’s digital infrastructure by rolling out its True5G network across India in world-record time," Ambani stated in the annual report.