Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.'s profit surged in the quarter ended March, aided by tariff hikes and an exceptional gain.
Net profit of the telecom arm of Reliance Industries Ltd. jumped 72.7 percent over the previous quarter to Rs 2,331 crore in the January-March period, according to a company statement. Analyst estimates compiled by BoombergQuint had pegged it at Rs 1,888 crore. The bottom line was aided by an exceptional gain of Rs 31 crore in the quarter due to a reversal of provisions related to statutory dues on adjusted gross revenue.
Operating profit of India's largest operator by subscribers rose 10.6 percent sequentially to Rs 6,175 crore, against the Rs 6,448-crore estimate. Revenue rose 6.2 percent to Rs 14,835 crore—analysts had estimated Rs 15,396 crore.
Reliance Jio's average revenue per user, or ARPU, rose for the second straight quarter to Rs 130.6 from Rs 128 in October-December. That came after the wireless carrier, along with peers, increased tariffs in December after the Supreme Court ordered the industry to pay thousands of crores worth of statutory dues.
Since the validity of most prepaid recharges ended in January, the company gained in the fourth quarter as users topped up at higher tariffs.
Strong Investor Interest In Jio Platforms
Last week, Facebook Inc. announced a deal with Jio Platforms that houses Mukesh Ambani's digital and telecom assets including Reliance Jio Infocomm. The company will recieve Rs 43,574 crore from Facebook for 9.99 percent stake, Reliance said in a statement today, adding that it is also seeing interest from other global investors for similar sized additional stake.
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