Reliance confirms JioPhone Next will be launched in time for Diwali

• The JioPhone Next launch was initially scheduled for September this year.
• It was pushed back and at the time, reports suggested that it will be launched around Diwali.
• JioPhone Next is an affordable Android smartphone developed in partnership with Google.

The much anticipated JioPhone Next, in partnership with Google, will be available in time for Diwali (November 4), Reliance Jio confirmed on Friday. The launch was initially expected to happen in September this year, but it got pushed back due to the ongoing chip shortage.

Reliance Jio posted 16.7% growth in its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) between July and September this year, much higher than analyst expectations of 5-7% growth.

Another area that Jio has improved its metrics in is the amount of money it makes from each user, which surged to ₹143.6 to ₹138.4 in the previous quarter.


Despite analyst warnings, Jio has so far resisted raising tariffs over the past few months. Instead, it has gone ahead on the path of aggressive subscriber acquisition, and that seems to be helping it tide over the stunted growth in average revenue per user (ARPU).

Interestingly enough, Jio lost subscribers for the first time on a quarter-on-quarter basis - it reported that its total customer base stood at 429.5 million subscribers, down from the 440.6 million number that the company reported in the previous quarter.

Reliance Jio’s last quarter in numbers

Jio reported a 2% increase in profit between July and September 2021, increasing to ₹3,728 crore from ₹3,651 crore in the previous quarter. On a year-on-year basis, its profit surged by nearly 24%.

Jio also witnessed a healthy surge of 4.3% in its revenue during the quarter, increasing to ₹23,222 crore as compared to ₹22,267 crore in the quarter before. On a year-on-year basis, this is an increase of 7%.

Both data and voice usage saw a substantial increase this quarter

Data traffic saw an increase of nearly 13% compared to the previous quarter. The average data usage per user during the quarter stood at 17.6GB, as compared to 15.6GB in the previous quarter.

Voice usage increased to 840 minutes from 818 minutes in the quarter before.

SEE ALSO:

Reliance Jio’s September earnings to be driven by aggressive subscriber additions

Reliance Jio cements its lead over Airtel in both total as well as active subscribers

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