- Reliance Jio has completed 5G network planning for the top 1,000 cities in the country
- Prepaid recharge option will be available to customers via WhatsApp
- 5G launch in India is scheduled for later this year
Reliance Jio has announced that it has completed 5G coverage planning for the top 1,000 cities in India. This comes a few days after the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) announced that the 5G services will be launched in the country later this year. Jio is expected to be among the first telcos to provide the services to its customers. The telco is working on a data-driven 5G network that will be based on targeted customer consumption revenue using Heat maps, 3D maps and ray-tracing technology for precise coverage planning to target high-consumption and high-perception locations.
“5G coverage planning has been completed for 1,000 top cities across the country. Jio has been doing trials on advanced use cases across Healthcare and Industrial Automation on its 5G network,” said Jio Platforms. Jio is likely to roll out 5G in India in phases, as DoT has mentioned that the services will be available only in 13 major cities initially.
Simultaneously, the company announced that it has joined hands with WhatsApp to simplify the prepaid recharge experience and posted an 8.8 percent increase at Rs 3,795 crore in net profit for the third quarter ended December 2021. Jio’s average revenue per user (ARPU) rose to Rs 151.60 per month from Rs 143.6 in the previous quarter and Rs 151 in October-December. This is likely to be helped by the latest Jio recharge plan price hike. The company had clocked a net profit of Rs 3,486 crore in the same period a year ago.
“ARPU improves to Rs. 151.6 led by better subscriber mix and recent tariff hike. Full impact of tariff hike to be reflected in ARPU and financials over the next few quarters,” added Jio Platforms. Jio’s subscriber base also grew. This is being attributed to the sale of its budget smartphone JioPhone Next, which added 10.2 million subscribers in Q3FY22.
