(Bloomberg) -- Reliance Industries Ltd.’s digital unit has begun advanced tests to prepare for the roll out of fifth-generation telecom services as the conglomerate doubles down to keep its billionaire-owner Mukesh Ambani’s pledge of offering the high-speed network this year.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., India’s largest wireless operator, is testing the transmission speeds using locally-developed equipment, it said in a statement Friday. Reliance Jio, with almost 411 million users, reported a 15.5% rise in profit at 34.9 billion rupees ($478 million) compared with the preceding quarter while earnings margins before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization touched 47%.
The solid earnings bolster Ambani’s ambitions to transform Reliance from an energy giant into a technology titan -- a transformation pitch that has received $27 billion from global investors including Facebook Inc. and Google. Ambani, Asia’s second richest man, promised last month that Jio will be the first to roll out 5G in India in the second half of this year. He’s looking to lure nearly 300 million users still on the older 2G technology offered by Jio’s rivals.
Affordable, Available
“Jio will continue to accelerate the roll out of its digital platforms and indigenously developed next generation 5G stack and make it affordable and available everywhere,” Ambani, Reliance Industries’ chairman, said in the statement. “Jio is determined to make India 2G-mukt,” or 2G-free, he said.
The 63-year-old tycoon’s 5G plans, however, are contingent on the Indian government’s auction of airwaves specifically allotted for these services. No date has been announced for this spectrum auction.
Jio, backed by its cash-rich and net-debt-free parent, is in the pole position to offer 5G services, whenever government rules allow, at possibly dirt-cheap prices -- an encore of its debut strategy. Reliance Jio disrupted India’s telecom market in 2016 when it entered with free calls and super cheap data, forcing rivals to merge, quit or go bankrupt.
Paying Off
Ambani’s bet on consumer services -- telecom and retail -- seems to be paying off, helping the conglomerate offset a slump in its crude oil refining business. Even after the pandemic pummeled fuel demand and hurt Reliance’s energy businesses, the company reported a record profit in the quarter ended December, beating analyst expectations.
Key highlights of Reliance Industries’ quarterly earnings:
- Net income beat estimates to rise 13% to 131.01 billion rupees
- Consolidated revenue fell 21% to 1.24 trillion rupees
- Total costs dropped 22% to 1.13 trillion rupees
- Jio’s average revenue per user rose to 151 rupees
- Total debt, as of Dec. 31, stood at 2.57 trillion rupees
Últimas Noticias
Debanhi Escobar: they secured the motel where she was found lifeless in a cistern
Members of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in Nuevo León secured the Nueva Castilla Motel as part of the investigations into the case
The oldest person in the world died at the age of 119
Kane Tanaka lived in Japan. She was born six months earlier than George Orwell, the same year that the Wright brothers first flew, and Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize
Macabre find in CDMX: they left a body bagged and tied in a taxi
The body was left in the back seats of the car. It was covered with black bags and tied with industrial tape
The eagles of America will face Manchester City in a duel of legends. Here are the details
The top Mexican football champion will play a match with Pep Guardiola's squad in the Lone Star Cup
Why is it good to bring dogs out to know the world when they are puppies
A so-called protection against the spread of diseases threatens the integral development of dogs
