Jio IPO: Akash Ambani says services, not tariff hikes, will drive revenue growth

Jio Platforms plans to increase revenue per customer primarily by offering more services rather than raising tariffs although it retains the option of increasing prices Managing Director Akash Ambani said on Thursday ahead of the companyrsquos initial public offering IPO which is set to be Indiarsquos largestWATCH Mumbai Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited RJIL Akash Ambani says Jios first mission is to democratize technology to benefit Indians 6G is on our horizon What this really means is that we will implement 6G as a software upgrade rather than through a new infrastructure buildoutmdash ANI ANI October 15 2026We always have the ability to take up prices Ambani told a press conference in Mumbai adding that the company would prefer to offer customers more services and charge for them rather than rely primarily on increasing the price per gigabyte of dataAsked whether a tariff hike was imminent Ambani did not give a timeline He said telecom spending per user as a share of Indiarsquos percapita income had roughly halved to about 1 per cent since Jio entered the market in 2016 indicating scope for further growth in spendingJio Chief Executive Pankaj Pawar said tariffs were only one of several levers available to increase revenueAmbani said Jio charges about Rs 49 per gigabyte of data compared with an industry average of Rs 75 while its customers consume an average of 437 GB a month The company also carries more than 60 per cent of Indiarsquos wireless data traffic he saidWe expect a USD 14trillion digital economy by FY31 we will take a huge market share of this Ambani said identifying mobile services home broadband and enterprise and international services as the companyrsquos main growth areasJio banks on broadband enterprise and digital servicesAmbani outlined a strategy centred on connectivity technology and infrastructure with the company seeking to expand beyond its core mobile business through broadband enterprise offerings and services in overseas marketsHome broadband was identified as a key growth area Jio had 286 million fixed broadband customers and accounted for 675 per cent of Indiarsquos net fixed broadband additions in fiscal 2026 Ambani saidThe company is also looking to benefit from industrywide additions of about 340 million 4G and 5G customers between fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2031 Such growth could create opportunities to increase average revenue per user ARPU a measure of telecom operatorsrsquo revenuegenerating capacityIn enterprise services Jio is targeting an estimated Rs 51 trillion addressable market for digital services in India in fiscal 2026 It is also looking to monetise its inhouse technology platform in selected overseas marketsAmbani said Jio would offer its network technology to foreign telecom operators as a managedservice partner rather than sell hardware or software licences He added that the expansion would not require heavy capital spendingThe companyrsquos international revenue contribution would become clearer as we sign on our first customers he saidHowever Jio Platforms remains heavily dependent on India According to its prospectus the country accounted for 9662 per cent of its revenue in the year ended March 2026 The document did not provide figures for overseas salesAmbani also referred to the growth in Indiarsquos digital connectivity since Jiorsquos launch in 2016 when average download speeds were about 25 Mbps National average download speeds have since risen to around 68 Mbps he saidJiorsquos average 5G download speed stood at 1989 Mbps roughly twice that of competing operators over the preceding three years according to the company Ambani also cited the decline in data prices since Jio entered the marketThe company has introduced services beyond its licensed telecom business including a voicebased artificial intelligence feature announced at Reliance Industriesrsquo annual meeting Ambani said such offerings could help increase its earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortisation EBITDA marginJio Platformsrsquo EBITDA margin stood at 533 per cent in the AprilJune quarter of FY27 compared with about 50 per cent three years earlier Its EBITDA was Rs 76225 crore in FY26 with a compound annual growth rate of 178 per cent between FY24 and FY26 according to the companyJio Platforms IPO Price band issue size and datesJio Platforms has set a price band of Rs 1065 to Rs 1119 per share for its IPO which will comprise up to 27 crore new shares equivalent to about 3 per cent of its existing capital The issue does not include an offerforsale componentAt the upper end of the price band the issue would raise about Rs 30213 crore surpassing Hyundai Motor Indiarsquos Rs 27870 crore share sale in October 2024 to become Indiarsquos largest IPOThe price band implies a market valuation of about Rs 103 lakh crore below the roughly Rs 11 lakh crore valuation the company had earlier been reported to be seekingBidding for the issue will open on October 21 and close on October 23 while anchor investors can bid on October 19 The shares are expected to begin trading on October 28According to the red herring prospectus dated October 14 the proceeds will be used to prepay borrowings of Reliance Jio Infocomm the telecom subsidiary and for general corporate purposesReliance Industries owns 6643 per cent of Jio Platforms Meta Platforms affiliate Jaadhu Holdings holds 998 per cent while Google International owns 773 per centNineteen banks are managing the issue including Kotak Mahindra Capital Morgan Stanley BofA Securities Goldman Sachs JPMorgan and CitiJiorsquos customer base and financial performanceReliance Jio Infocomm had 5333 million customers at the end of June including 2849 million 5G users Ambani described this as the largest 5G customer base outside ChinaAverage revenue per user rose to Rs 2156 a month while average monthly data consumption per customer reached 437 GB in the first quarter of FY27The companyrsquos connectivity infrastructure comprised 360537 towers and 26800 MHz of spectrum according to the details outlined by AmbaniJiorsquos strategy combines its network infrastructure with an inhouse technology platform that the company describes as an endtoend technology stack It plans to use these capabilities to expand its domestic service offerings and pursue opportunities in selected international marketsThe upcoming IPO will provide investors an opportunity to buy shares in Jio Platforms whose business spans mobile connectivity broadband and digital services The companyrsquos ability to increase revenue per customer expand enterprise and broadband services and develop international operations will be among the factors shaping its growth beyond the core telecom businessWith PTI inputs