Ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO), from which it hopes to raise about $4bn, Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL), the digital tech division of giant Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has reported a 12% year-on-year increase in revenues and a 15.1% increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for its fiscal first quarter that ended 30 June.
The numbers for Jio Platforms, which counts India’s largest mobile operator Reliance Jio as its crown jewel but also boasts fixed broadband, digital apps and a range of enterprise comms and digital services (including AI) in its portfolio, were shared as RIL reported its first-quarter financials.
JPL, which has just appointed a new CEO, reported revenues of 459.6bn rupees ($4.76bn) and quarterly EBITDA of almost 208.7bn rupees ($2.16bn): It ended June with a total customer base of more than 533 million, including 285 million 5G subscribers, an increase of 73 million in the previous 12 months: According to the company, 57% of all of its mobile customers are now 5G subscribers.
Its fixed broadband customer base increased by 8.6 million year on year to 28.6 million, which JPL claims gives it a market share of more than 43%. That total number includes users of its fixed wireless access (FWA) service, Jio AirFiber, which the operator says now has more than 14 million customers.
JPL’s average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 3.3% year on year to 215.6 rupees ($2.23).
The division is also ramping up its efforts to develop and patent its own technology as part of its efforts to develop and deploy the most suitable tech platforms in the Indian market and to sell and license products around the world: In the same way that Japan’s Rakuten sells the technology it has developed and used to other companies via its Rakuten Symphony business, JPL is seeking to sell its own patented technology in international markets. Earlier this year it hired Dan Bailey, the former chairman of Deutsche Bank’s telecom, media and technology practice, to spearhead its international business initiatives.
As part of those efforts, JPL recently announced it has broken into the global top 20 in the latest Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) rankings released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), “placing it among an elite group of global technology leaders, including Huawei, Samsung, Qualcomm, LG, Panasonic, Nokia, Google, Apple and Microsoft.” The company noted that its patent portfolio “is strongly focused on next-generation digital technologies, including 5G, 5G-Advanced, 6G, artificial intelligence, AI-native networks, cloud-native platforms, intelligent automation, radio access, core network software, edge intelligence, fixed wireless access, network slicing and digital services infrastructure.”