Jio's IPO timeline not deliberated on so far: Networks President

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SME Times News Bureau | 16 Oct, 2019
Reliance Jio, currently the country's most profitable telecom firm is yet to decide on a timeline for its initial public offer (IPO), company President Mathew Oomen said on Tuesday.

"There are market forces. Based on market forces and on timelines, we will continue to deliberate, we have so far not deliberated a specific timeline for the IPO", Reliance Jio President (Networks) Mathew Oomen told IANS.

Jio is a subsidiary of the billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led energy-to-retail major Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).

There have been several reports of Jio being listed over the next 2-3 years, with parent RIL said to be considering an IPO.

Jio's first quarter (April-June) net profit increased 46 per cent to Rs 891 crore. The net profit for the financial year 2018-19 was Rs 2,964 crore, Reliance Jio has said in a regulatory filing, though being unlisted it is not obliged to file figures with the exchanges.

Jio has 340 million 4G subscribers. It is purely a 4G player with no 2G or 3G services.

Recently, the company started charging 6 paise per minute for voice calls to other mobile networks. Reliance Jio's decision to charge its customers comes after telecom regulator Trai floated a consultation paper to extend the deadline to make IUC charges zero with effect from January 1, 2020 citing traffic asymmetry.

"In this background, the consultation paper has created regulatory uncertainty and therefore, Jio has been compelled, most reluctantly and unavoidably, to recover this regulatory charge of 6 paise per minute for all off-net mobile voice calls so long as IUC charges exist," Jio said in a statement.

Jio launched its service in September 2016 with the free unlimited voice call offer setting off a brutal price war among telcom firms and triggering a wave of consolidation in one of the world's most crowded telecom markets.