Reliance Jio, Airtel to invest ₹75,000 crore in FY24 to strengthen network: JM Financials

JM Financials report on telecom industry has stated that Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, two major telecom players in India, are expected to invest about ₹75,000 crore in the current financial year to strengthen their networks, reported PTI

The report said Reliance Jio may invest around ₹42,000 crore and Bharti Airtel around ₹33,000 crore in FY24, but the investment will taper down after their 5G network rollout target is met as per their announcement.

"Bharti's management capex guidance implies India business capex could decline to approximately ₹200 billion ( ₹20,000 crore) from FY25 (versus ₹280 billion, or ₹28,000 crore in FY23) though we continue to conservatively build in approximately ₹270 billion ( ₹27,000 crore) for FY25 and ₹330 billion ( ₹33,000 crore) for FY24," the PTI quoted the report as saying.

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As per the report, Relaince Jio's capex may be about ₹42,163 crore in FY24, which may lower to about ₹30,000 crore in FY25. Jio has announced plans to complete pan-India 5G rollout by December 2023, while Bharti Airtel aims to do the same by March 2024, the report said.

Last month, Jio launched Jio AirFiber intended for both homes and offices. Jio AirFiber offered impressive speeds of up to 1.5 Gbps, making it ideal for activities like high-definition video streaming, online gaming, and lag-free video conferencing. Jio AirFiber is set to tap into a massive untapped market of over 200 million Indian households. Jio AirFiber is expected to be competitively priced, estimated at around ₹6,000, possibly slightly higher due to the inclusion of a portable device unit.