Breaking Update: Here’s a clear explanation of the latest developments related to Breaking News:Monetization in focus as 5G buildout eases, Arpu gains steady– What Just Happened and why it matters right now.
Jio Platforms and its parent Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) are set to report their quarterly results on Friday, 16 January.
For Q3FY26, Jio Platforms, which houses RIL’s telecom and digital services businesses, is expected to report a 2.7% sequential and 12.8% year-on-year (YoY) rise in revenue from operations to about ₹37,295 crore, according to Morgan Stanley. In the September quarter, Jio had posted a 3.7% sequential growth in consolidated revenue to ₹36,332 crore and a net profit of ₹7,375 crore.
On a standalone basis, telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm is expected to report a 2.5% sequential and 11% YoY increase in revenue from operations to ₹32,650 crore, according to average estimates of four brokerage firms. Net profit is projected to rise 2% sequentially and 10% on year to ₹7,111 crore, with growth constrained by higher finance costs linked to earlier 5G investments and increased depreciation expenses.
Reliance Jio is India’s largest telecom operator by market share and accounts for most of Jio Platforms’ business. In the September quarter, Reliance Jio’s revenue from operations on a standalone basis grew 12.4% year-on-year and 3.15% quarter-on-quarter to ₹31,857 crore. Net profit rose 11.9% on-year and 3.9% sequentially to ₹6,972 crore.
“While 2026/FY27 could be a critical year for the sector given the impending IPO of Jio and possible final decision on government relief, we expect Q3FY26 results to be largely uneventful in the absence of meaningful price intervention,” said UBS in a note dated 7 January.
Subscriber growth
Average revenue per user (Arpu) is expected to see a modest, organic rise driven by higher data usage and a favourable subscriber mix as more users migrate from 2G to 4G/5G and upgrade to higher data tiers. In the absence of any headline tariff intervention, Arpu for the December quarter is projected to grow by 0.6-1.0% sequentially to ₹213.5 for Reliance Jio.
“Reliance Jio has delivered a 38% YoY growth in its 5G subscriber base to 234 million, i.e. 48% of its mobile subscriber base, implying fairly high adoption rates. Given this and the imminent IPO in 2026, its focus will likely remain on driving 5G monetization,” said brokerage house Jefferies in a note dated 6 January.
Jefferies’ analysts noted that Jio is encouraging high data usage subscribers to move to 5G by including 5G in all plans offering 2GB/day data allowance, incentivizing upgrades while expanding overall consumption. On home broadband, the scale-up of FWA is also aiding 5G monetization.
As of September-end, Jio had 506.4 million mobile subscribers, including 234 million 5G users, up from 213 million in the June quarter. Analysts expect Jio to add 6.5-7 million new subscribers in the October-December period, pushing its total user base to about 513 million.
“Jio has established a clear lead in fixed wireless by being the first to scale up its 5G FWA offering and also being the first to commercialise UBR (unlicensed band radio) last year,” said brokerage house Citi in a note dated 5 January.
At an earnings call with analysts on 18 June, Reliance Jio said it was the first to deploy point-to-multipoint UBR technology for home broadband. The technology works like a radio station, sending internet wirelessly from a central antenna placed on a tower to multiple homes or buildings at the same time.
As of November 2025, Jio’s total home broadband subscriber base stood at 24.4 million, including 13.6 million on fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), 7.6 million 5G FWA subscribers, and 3.2 million using UBR technology.
Digital push
Even as telecom contributes the bulk of revenue, Jio’s non-connectivity digital services are becoming increasingly significant. This segment includes managed technology services, cloud, bundled content, and devices.
“Increasing adoption of digital services, such as cloud and AI services, creates differentiation opportunities in the near-term (e.g. Jio bundling Google AI Pro) and a possible monetisation opportunity in the medium term,” said brokerage house BNP Paribas in a note dated 12 January.
Jio’s non-connectivity revenues were ₹14,100 crore in FY25 and are annualizing over ₹17,000 crore in FY26, a 12% contribution to Jio Platforms’ consolidated revenues versus 8% two years back, according to Citi.
The company has also been focusing on IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) offerings, including Jio PC, which converts televisions into AI-enabled computers. In August, Jio discussed launching Jio Frame, a smart glass with a multilingual AI voice assistant and camera.