Reliance Jio logs in over 20 crore customers

Less than 24 months after formal roll-out, Reliance Jio has developed an impressive customer base of over 20 crore customers. It has reached the mark in record time at the end of May, now close on heels of Idea which has 21.7 crore customers and Vodafone which has 22.2 crore users.

Jio which had 100 million users on February 2017 has doubled its customer base on May 2018, according to a Financial Express report. This is primarily owing to Jio's data packs at aggressive price points which have ensured other telcos too also follow suit. Bharti Airtel is India's most popular telecom company with nearly 31 crore users.

Jio users are currently using 9,700 MB data which is far greater than the market average. Jio which started commercial services on September 2016 has been getting 7-8 million new users every month, as per report, far greater than that of its competitors.

However, Jio continues to be the second choice for most consumers based on mobile number portability data.

Reliance Jio this week secured a USD 1-billion worth of term loan from a slew of foreign banks led by ANZ Bank and HSBC and covered by the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure) to finance its procurements from Samsung and Ace Technologies. The term loan, the fourth for the Reliance Industries in the past five years and the second covered facility for Jio in the past three years, was arranged on June 22, the company said in a statement.

"The term loan facility will be used to finance goods and services procured primarily from Samsung and Ace Technologies," Jio said. The loan has door-to-door tenor of 10.75 years, and is the largest deal in the country as well as the largest deal supported by it in the telecom sector globally, it said.

The facility was arranged by Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, HSBC, BNP Paribas; Commerzbank, Citibank, ING Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, and Banco Santander. Earlier in April it was reported that Reliance Jio's decision to undertake price cuts in the January-March quarter led to a decline in its average revenue per user (ARPU) by 11% to Rs 137.1.

The company had reduced its base tariff plan for JioPhone users at Rs 49/month while JioPrime membership was extended by a year for free. However, the dip in ARPUs came along with a strong addition in the subscriber base during the quarter at 26.5 million. The operating revenue grew 3.6% during the January-March quarter at Rs 7,128 crore, slower than 11.9% revenue growth recorded in the December quarter.