Reliance Jio announces Q1 2020 results, adds over 15 mln new customers despite pandemic

Reliance Jio on Thursday announced the results for the first quarter of 2020. In its quarterly report, the company said that its profits increased by 182.8% from ₹891 crores in the first quarter of 2019 to ₹2,520 crores in the first quarter of 2020.

The company also announced that it had added 15.1 million new customers despite the Covid-19 pandemic and that its total customer base at the end of June 30, 2020, stood at 398.3 million.

Reliance Jio, in its quarterly report, also revealed that its wireless traffic had witnessed a growth of 30.2% year-on-year and that its total wireless data traffic during the mentioned quarter stood at 1,420 crore GB. The company reported similar numbers for its voice traffic during the quarter as well, which grew at a rate of 13.2% year-on-year. The company reported total voice traffic of 88,944 crore minutes during the first quarter of 2020.

Apart from higher usage, the company also reported high customer engagement. The company said that during the quarter, wireless data consumption per user per month stood at 12.1 GB while the average voice consumption stood at 756 minutes per user per month.

“Jio started with a vision of connecting everything by building a robust and secure wireless and digital network and extending the benefits of digital connectivity to everyone in India. Thirteen investors, which include the largest technology companies and investors globally, now share a common vision with us,” Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said in a statement.

The first quarter of 2020 has been an eventful period for Reliance Industries Limited. Jio Platforms has raised ₹152,056 crore from investments by thirteen investors, which includes Facebook, Google, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. Post the completion of these investments, RIL would hold 66.48% equity stake in Jio Platforms. The company has also entered into a partnership with Google to jointly develop an entry-level smartphone with optimisations to the Android operating system and the Google Play Store.

In addition to this, RIL has successfully completed India’s largest Rights Issue of ₹53,124 crore. It has also invited investment of ₹76,29 crore from BP, which accounts for a 49% stake in the company’s fuel retailing business.

Apart from raising capital, Jio Platforms has rolled out its cloud-based video-conferencing app, JioMeet, which has been downloaded by over 5 million users. It has also completed the process of converting initial test users of Jio Fiber to paid-plans, which now accounts for more than 1 million home users being connected with Jio FTTH services. The company has also launched JioMart in 200 cities across the country. The service is delivering over 4 lakh orders in a single day.

“Jio Platforms Limited with partnerships across promising Indian start-ups and globally renowned technology companies is set to drive the next leg of hyper-growth for digital businesses. Our growth strategy is aimed at meeting the needs of all the 1.3 billion Indians. We remain focused on playing a leading role India's transformation into a Digital Society,” he added.