Monetization in focus as 5G buildout eases, Arpu gains steady

Jio Platforms and its parent company Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will announce their quarterly results on Friday, January 16.

Jio Platforms, which houses RIL’s telecommunications and digital services businesses, is expected to report 2.7% sequential and 12.8% year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenue from operations for 3FY26. ₹37,295 crore, according to Morgan Stanley. In the September quarter, Jio recorded a 3.7% sequential growth in consolidated revenue. ₹36,332 crore and net profit ₹7,375 crore.

Independently telecom arm of Reliance Jio Infocomm expected to report a 2.5% sequential and 11% annual increase in revenue from operations ₹32,650 crore, according to the average estimates of four brokerage firms. Net profit is expected to increase by 2% sequentially and 10% annually ₹7,111 crore, while growth was constrained by high financing costs and increased depreciation expenses due to previous 5G investments.

Reliance Jio is India’s largest telecom operator by market share and handles most of Jio Platforms’ business. In the September quarter, Reliance Jio’s revenue from standalone operations grew 12.4% year-on-year and 3.15% quarter-on-quarter. ₹31,857 crore. Net profit increased by 11.9% annually and 3.9% sequentially ₹6,972 crore.

“While FY 2026/27 could be a critical year for the sector given the looming Jio IPO and possible final decision on government aid, we expect FY 2026 results to be largely uneventful in the absence of meaningful price intervention,” UBS said in a note dated January 7.

subscriber growth

Average revenue per user (Arpu) is expected to see modest, organic growth due to higher data usage and favorable subscriber mix as more users migrate from 2G to 4G/5G and upgrade to higher data tiers. In the absence of any tariff intervention, Arpu is projected to grow by 0.6-1.0% sequentially for the December quarter. ₹213.5 for Reliance Jio.

“Reliance Jio has achieved 38% year-on-year growth in its 5G subscriber base to 234 million, or 48% of its mobile subscriber base, indicating very high adoption rates. Given this and the upcoming IPO in 2026, the focus will likely continue to increase 5G monetization,” brokerage Jefferies said in a Jan. 6 note.

Jefferies analysts noted that Jio is encouraging high data usage subscribers to switch to 5G by including 5G in all plans offering 2GB daily data allocation, increasing overall consumption while incentivizing upgrades. Scaling up FWA in home broadband is also helping monetize 5G.

As of end-September, Jio had 506.4 million mobile subscribers, including 234 million 5G users; this number was 213 million in the June quarter. Analysts expect Jio to add 6.5-7 million new subscribers in the October-December period, taking its total user base to around 513 million.

“Jio has taken a clear lead in fixed wireless by being the first to scale up its 5G FWA offering and also the first to commercialize UBR (unlicensed band radio) last year,” brokerage Citi said in a Jan. 5 note.

In an earnings call with analysts on June 18, Reliance Jio said it was the first company to implement point-to-multipoint UBR technology for home broadband. The technology works like a radio station, sending internet wirelessly to multiple homes or buildings at the same time from a central antenna placed on a tower.

As of November 2025, Jio’s total home broadband subscriber base was 24.4 million, including 13.6 million fiber to the home (FTTH), 7.6 million 5G FWA subscribers and 3.2 million using UBR technology.

digital push

While telecom accounts for the bulk of revenue, Jio’s connectivity-free digital services are becoming increasingly important. This segment includes managed technology services, cloud, bundled content and devices.

“Increasing adoption of digital services such as cloud and AI services creates differentiation opportunities in the short term (e.g. Jio bundling Google AI Pro) and a potential monetization opportunity in the medium term,” brokerage firm BNP Paribas said in a Jan. 12 note.

Jio’s non-connection revenues ₹14,100 crore in FY25 and is calculated annually ₹17,000 crore contributed 12% to Jio Platforms’ consolidated revenues in FY26, compared to 8% two years ago, according to Citi.

The company is also focusing on IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, including Jio PC, which turns televisions into AI-powered computers. In August, Jio mooted the launch of Jio Frame, a smart glasses with a multilingual AI voice assistant and camera.