Jio to set up separate units for fibre and tower business

Reliance Jio Infocomm, a leading 4G operator in India, has decided to create two separate companies to focus on fibre and tower business.
Jio for VoLTE serviceReliance Jio, which is owned by businessman Mukesh Ambani, received board approval for the demerger, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The strategy of Reliance Jio is to create business units to work as infrastructure providers – offering tower services to telecom operators and optical fibre to other telecom players and internet companies.

Reliance Jio owns and operates about 2.20 lakh towers and fibre assets of close to 3 lakh route km, Hindu Business Line reported.

Reliance Jio could emerge as the Indian telecom industry leader on revenue basis by 2021 and subscriber basis by 2022, according to a report from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Subsidy for JioPhones will drive the growth of Reliance Jio.

Reliance Jio will achieve 28 percent revenue market share and 26 percent subscriber share by this fiscal year-end, the report said.

Reliance Jio added 37 million new mobile phone customers in the second-quarter ended September 30 to take the subscriber base to 252.3 million. The churn rate of Reliance Jio reached 0.66 percent. Reliance Jio reported ARPU of Rs 131.7 during the quarter.