Reliance Jio added fewer subscribers in Q2 but made more money out of them

• Reliance Jio’s growth in subscribers has slowed down this quarter.
• It only added 29 million users in Q2 FY20 in comparison to adding 37 million during the same quarter last year.
• Jio’s ARPU also hit ₹120, dropping for the seventh consecutive quarter.

Reliance Industries released its earnings for the current quarter and its digital business, Reliance Jio, seems to be slowing down.

Jio’s subscriber base only added 29 million in Q2 FY20. In comparison, Jio added 37 subscribers in the same quarter last year.

However, the company is making more money out of its subscribers — the margin for Jio improved by as much as 170 basis points to over 11%. This would be heartening for the investors in RIL.

And, even though growth is slowing down, the number subscribers has still grown 7.2% over the last quarter.

A report published earlier today by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) found that Jio was the only telecom operator to add subscribers during the month of August.

"It's also a matter of great pride for us to share the fact that Jio is now the second largest single county operator in the world with a subscriber base of 355 billion," said Reliance Industries CFO, Alok Agarwal, during the earnings call.

So even though subscriber growth is slowing down for the company, it’s still faring better than Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.


And, Jio’s average revenue per user continues to decline for the seventh consecutive quarter hitting ₹120. Usage continues to growth with the company recording 12 billion GB in data traffic and 813 billion minutes of voice traffic.

"Both continue to grow quarter after quarter showing stronger levels of customer engagement on our network," stated Agarwal.


The company reported a net profit grew at a yearly rate of 45.4% hitting ₹990 crore during the quarter. It's operating revenue also grew by 33.7% year-on-year to reach ₹12,354 crore.


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