Reliance Sees Telecoms Arm Jio Turning Profitable ‘Shortly’
Reliance Industries Ltd’s telecoms arm Jio will turn profitable “shortly,” the Indian conglomerate said on Friday, while adding it would continue to pump around $1 billion into the venture for each of the next few quarters.
Jio launched late last year with free voice and cut-price data, sparking a price war in India’s cut-throat telecoms sector which has driven down margins and forced consolidation.
Oil-to-retail giant Reliance, controlled by India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, suggested there were signs its costly gamble was paying off. Jio racked up 61.47 billion rupees ($947 million) of revenues in the three months to Sept. 30, though made a loss of 2.71 billion rupees.
“I can only see it (net income) turning positive very shortly,” joint Reliance finance chief V Srikanth said, ...