Having splurged splurged Economic Times Jio buys spectrum for Rs 88,078 crore, geared up for 5G rollout in shortest time Read more US$11 billion on buying 5G and other spectrum bands in July, work for Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd begins in earnest only now. Not just to plan out its return on investment for the spectrum spends but also for all the money parent Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has raised for its telco-to-tech arm Jio Platforms Ltd since 2020.
In 2020, strategic and financial investors put in put in The Ken Jio Platforms: Jack of all trades and master of India’s digital economy Read more $20 billion in Jio Platforms, which now houses multiple Reliance businesses, including the telecom arm Jio Infocomm. Back then, it was valued at US$65 billion—the investments from Meta and Google came at a slightly lower valuation.
“To build our pan-India True 5G network, we have committed a total investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore (US$25 billion),” said RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani in the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on 29 August. This includes money the telco spent on the 5G auctions.
Internally, the leadership is aware of the impending pressure for results, with the talk of an initial public offering (IPO) swirling around since 2020. 2020. Mint Jio Platforms listing on the cards Read more The IPO’s timeline isn’t clear yet—there were no announcements regarding the IPO at the AGM.
However, Jio Infocomm now has three top priorities post the 5G auctions, said a senior executive who works closely with the company.
- A speedy rollout of 5G.
- Winning the enterprise battle—connectivity, cloud and enterprise data centre services—where it is up against well-entrenched rivals such as Bharti and Tata Communications.
- And growing the fibre-to-home (FTTH) business.
Its 10-year partnership with software giant Microsoft—signed in 2019—kicks into gear this year. The telco will soon be unveiling two data centres in Maharashtra and Gujarat, according to an executive close to Jio Infocomm. The executive, the senior executive quoted earlier, and others The Ken spoke to requested anonymity as they’re not authorised to speak to the media. Jio Infocomm and Microsoft are jointly targeting 9 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the executive added.
“Once these data centres have reached over 50-60% utilisation, Microsoft may not hesitate in investing a billion [dollars] or two,” said a second executive close to Jio.
