Akash Ambani Outlines Jio’s Growth Strategy, Targets 100 Million Connected Homes

Mumbai: Jio Platforms Limited has announced India’s largest-ever initial public offering (IPO), marking the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Group’s first public offering in nearly two decades. Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Jio Platforms Managing Director Akash Ambani outlined the company’s next phase of growth, identifying mobile connectivity, home broadband, enterprise services and global technology monetisation as its four key growth pillars.

Addressing investors, Ambani said Jio aims to expand its digital services ecosystem, connect 100 million homes and leverage its proprietary technology stack to strengthen its position in India’s rapidly growing digital economy.

Speaking at the company’s investor presentation, Ambani said Jio’s mission was to connect every Indian home, citizen and enterprise with high-quality, affordable digital services. He said the company had built its business around connectivity over the past decade and was now focused on developing products and services that improve customers’ daily lives.

530 million customers and strong financial growth

Marking 10 years since its launch on September 6, Ambani said Jio had earned the trust of 530 million Indians as their digital connectivity partner. The company reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of more than ₹76,000 crore, with EBITDA growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.8% over the past three years. Its EBITDA margin stood at 53.3%.

Over the same period, Jio’s revenue increased from ₹1.09 lakh crore to more than ₹1.46 lakh crore, registering a CAGR of 15.8%, he said.

Ambani attributed the company’s financial performance to its scale in India’s digital services market, noting that Jio carries around 60% of the country’s digital data traffic.

He said the company had transformed the telecommunications landscape since entering the market in 2016, when consumers faced high data prices, low download speeds and limited access to mobile internet.

At the time, data prices stood at approximately ₹228 per GB, average download speeds were 2.5 Mbps, India had fewer than 70 million data customers, and monthly data consumption was around 200 MB per user, according to the figures cited in his address.

The expansion of affordable connectivity has since helped transform India from a data-scarce market into a data-abundant economy. Ambani said average download speeds across the industry had increased to 68 Mbps, while the average price of data had fallen to ₹7.50 per GB and monthly consumption had risen to 26.7 GB per user.

Jio customers, meanwhile, enjoy average download speeds of nearly 200 Mbps and consume 43.7 GB of data per month, he said. The company’s average data price stands at ₹4.90 per GB.

Ambani said these developments had helped India move from 155th place globally in broadband penetration and consumption to the top position over the past decade.

Jio’s 5G network and technology capabilities

Ambani highlighted Jio’s investments in network infrastructure and its rapid transition from 4G to 5G. The company began rolling out 5G services three years ago and has since built what he described as the world’s largest 5G subscriber base outside China.

Jio has more than 250 million 5G subscribers and completed its nationwide 5G rollout in 19 months, reaching 99% of India’s population, he said. The expansion involved deploying network infrastructure at a pace equivalent to installing a tower every minute during a 12-hour working shift.

The company has also developed an end-to-end technology stack spanning mobile broadband networks, integrated home connectivity platforms, operating systems and digital applications.

Ambani said more than 12,000 in-house engineers had contributed to the company’s technology development, with over 7,220 patents filed. He described Jio as the only Indian company among the world’s top 20 companies in technology patent filings.

The company’s technological capabilities, he said, would play a central role in developing new services and monetising its digital infrastructure as India’s digital economy expands.

AI and digital services to drive customer engagement

Ambani said Jio’s extensive customer base and digital infrastructure provided insights into customer demographics, spending patterns and potential demand for additional services. These capabilities would help the company expand its digital offerings beyond connectivity.

Jio currently offers more than 336 subscriptions across over-the-top (OTT) entertainment and music services, he said.

He also highlighted the company’s partnership with Google Gemini in India, which he said had resulted in 13 million new subscribers for Gemini.

Jio’s voice-based artificial intelligence (AI) services operate across approximately 20 billion voice minutes handled by its network daily. These services include automated call transcription and summarisation in 12 Indian languages, offered to users at no additional cost, according to Ambani.

He said the company intended to use its connectivity platform to introduce services that deliver greater value to customers and strengthen engagement across its digital ecosystem.

Ambani projected that India’s digital economy could reach $1.4 trillion by the financial year 2031, creating opportunities for companies capable of combining connectivity, digital platforms and technology services.

Four pillars of Jio’s growth strategy

Ambani outlined four areas that will drive Jio’s next phase of expansion: mobility, home broadband, enterprise services and global technology monetisation.

Mobility: Jio sees an opportunity to add nearly 340 million customers, comprising approximately 100 million first-time users over the next five years and 240 million users expected to migrate from 2G networks to 4G and 5G services.

Ambani said Jio had added three times as many net active subscribers as its nearest competitor during the previous financial year, underscoring its focus on expanding its customer base and encouraging users to adopt higher-value digital services.

Home broadband: Jio plans to expand its home broadband footprint from 40 million home passes to 100 million connected homes across 19,000 PIN codes. The company currently has around 30 million home broadband customers, according to the presentation.

Ambani said Jio was using its proprietary unlicensed 5G fixed wireless technology, referred to as UV in the address, to deliver speeds ranging from 1 Gbps to 5 Gbps over the Wi-Fi band.

The company is also expanding its reach beyond major urban centres, with 40% of its net additions coming from outside Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities. Jio accounts for 67.5% of India’s net fixed broadband additions, he said.

Enterprise services: Jio is targeting a market opportunity estimated at $56 billion through connectivity and technology solutions for businesses and institutions. Ambani said the company currently provides high-grade, secure broadband and video surveillance connectivity to 65% of Indian bank branches.

The enterprise business is expected to benefit from growing demand for secure networks, digital infrastructure and technology-enabled services across sectors.

Global technology monetisation: Jio also plans to expand its international business by partnering with telecommunications operators in other markets. Under this strategy, the company aims to offer its end-to-end technology stack as a managed service partner, allowing it to monetise its technological capabilities without relying solely on direct infrastructure ownership.

Focus on cash generation and operating efficiency

Concluding his address, Ambani highlighted Jio’s financial performance and its ability to generate cash while continuing to invest in network expansion and digital services.

The company’s EBITDA margin increased from 50% to 53.3% over the past three years, while EBITDA rose to more than ₹76,000 crore. For FY26, Jio reported an EBITDA-to-revenue ratio, after capital expenditure, of 28.6%, while its revenue-to-free cash flow ratio stood at 30%, according to the figures presented.

Ambani said the company’s growth strategy would remain centred on improving customer experience, expanding access to digital services and building technological capabilities that can serve both domestic and international markets.

With its large subscriber base, growing 5G adoption, expanding broadband footprint and investments in artificial intelligence, Jio is seeking to move beyond its traditional telecommunications business and strengthen its position as an integrated digital services and technology platform.

Uday Kotak calls Jio IPO a historic milestone

Opening the event, Uday Kotak said Jio had ushered in India’s digital revolution by transforming everyday life for millions of Indians and continued to play a defining role in shaping the country’s digital future.

Recalling his memories of Reliance’s first public offering, Kotak said he was 18 years old in 1977 when he witnessed Marine Drive and Chowpatty in Mumbai illuminated as part of the marketing and positioning for Reliance Textile Industries’ IPO, launched under the leadership of founder Dhirubhai Ambani.

He described the experience as a defining moment that influenced his thinking about a future in financial services. Kotak said the episode had reinforced the importance of public participation, investor engagement and wealth creation through capital markets.

Nearly five decades later, he said, Jio’s IPO represented another landmark occasion for the Reliance Group under the leadership of Mukesh Ambani.

At ₹30,188 crore at the upper end of the price band, the offering will be India’s largest IPO, according to Kotak. He also described it as evidence of the next generation of leadership taking shape through Akash Ambani and Isha Ambani, who are building businesses in digital services and retail.

Highlighting Jio’s competitive strengths, Kotak pointed to its 530 million customers and execution capabilities. He recalled the uncertainty in the telecommunications industry before Jio entered the market in 2016, saying the company subsequently transformed mobile connectivity by making data services significantly more affordable.

Kotak also highlighted Jio’s proprietary end-to-end digital connectivity technology stack and its role in India’s transition from a data-scarce nation to one with widespread 4G and 5G access.

He cited Jio’s revenue of ₹1,46,885 crore and EBITDA of more than ₹76,000 crore, with growth approaching 18%, as indicators of the business’s scale and financial performance.

Describing the IPO as the culmination of years of vision and perseverance, Kotak said it would give investors an opportunity to participate in the next phase of India’s digital growth.

Isha Ambani recounts the story behind Jio

Reliance Industries Director Isha Ambani traced Jio’s origins to a personal experience around 2009–2010, when she and her brother, Akash, were studying in the United States and returned to Mumbai for a break.

She recalled being unable to submit an academic assignment online because the internet connection did not work. The experience prompted a discussion about why India lacked the kind of reliable connectivity they had experienced abroad.

Akash believed the answer lay in building a digital technology platform company, she said. That vision eventually led to Jio’s launch in 2016.

Isha outlined four principles underpinning Reliance’s approach to building businesses: a long-term perspective, scale, execution and financial prudence.

She said the company focused on building businesses for decades rather than simply meeting immediate market needs. It also sought to achieve the scale necessary to fundamentally change the economics of the industries in which it operated.

Execution, she said, was deeply embedded in Reliance’s organisational culture, reflecting its technical capabilities and emphasis on delivering projects at scale.

Financial discipline was another central principle. Isha recalled that Mukesh Ambani had committed in 2019 to making Reliance Industries net-debt-free by 2021. Despite the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company fulfilled that commitment nine months ahead of schedule.

She said Reliance’s financial strategy was guided by two priorities: maintaining strong balance sheets and generating compounding free cash flow. This approach allows the group to build businesses, invest in expansion, scale operations, generate cash and reinvest in future growth.

Isha also invoked Reliance’s motto, “Growth is Life”, linking the company’s current ambitions to its history under Dhirubhai Ambani.

Recalling Reliance Industries’ public listing in 1977, she said the company had delivered an annualised return of 29% since then. She remembered her grandfather with gratitude, describing his vision as one in which every Indian should have an opportunity to participate in the country’s growth and share in its prosperity.

She said the principles of thinking big, pursuing excellence, embracing innovation and being fearless continued to guide the next generation of Reliance leadership.