Jio Platforms, the digital and telecommunications group controlled by Reliance Industries, led by Mukesh Ambani, is preparing to go public with an expected valuation of around $100 billion. Its 524 million customers are an enormous strength, but also the measure of the challenge: transforming this scale into increasingly robust revenues. A knot that also speaks to Italy. Between 2021 and 2025, mobile data traffic more than doubled, while the sector’s revenues decreased.
This is the thread that binds two very different markets. In India, Jio needs to convince investors that its user base can support a record valuation. In Italy, the numbers show that consuming more data does not automatically mean generating more revenue for operators. This is not evidence of a generalized telecommunications crisis: it is a more precise problem, that of monetizing the mobile network.
Jio is valid for customers, but also for what it will be able to sell to them
The listing of Jio Platforms is expected to be one of the largest ever seen in India. Indications circulating on the market place the group’s valuation at over 100 billion dollars, but the final value will depend on the share price and investor demand.
The company is not just a telephone operator. Through its subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm offers mobile connectivity and broadband, while the platform also focuses on digital services, cloud, entertainment, business solutions and artificial intelligence-based products. It is this ambition that makes a valuation from a large technology group plausible. The question accompanying the IPO is simple: how much do these businesses already have in the accounts and how much is still linked to connectivity?
The data filed for the listing returns an image of growth. In the financial year ending March 2026, Jio reached 524.4 million customers, up from 488.2 million in the previous year. Operating revenue rose 14.6% to 1,469 billion rupees, while net profit grew 15.1% to around 300.5 billion. The average monthly revenue per customer, or ARPU, also increased: from 206.2 rupees to 214 rupees.
The growth, however, must be read together with the composition of the business. In the same year, the average monthly data consumption per customer increased from 33.6 to 42.3 gigabytes. The use of the network has therefore increased much more than the average revenue per user: a signal that makes the group’s ability to offer higher value services, increase customer spending and build new sources of income central.
| Jio Platforms | Financial year 2025 | Financial year 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Clients | 488.2 million | 524.4 million |
| Operating revenues | 1,282 billion rupees | 1,469 billion rupees |
| Net profit | 261.1 billion rupees | 300.5 billion rupees |
| Monthly ARPU | 206.2 rupees | 214 rupees |
| Monthly data consumption per customer | 33.6GB | 42.3GB |
Source: Jio Platforms prospectus data filed with Sebi. ARPU and data consumption refer to the exit quarter of the financial year.
The IPO also serves to reduce debt
Then there is another less spectacular aspect of the 524 million customers, but important for investors: the use of the proceeds. The offer involves a new issue of shares; a significant part of the resources is intended to repay or advance debts of the telephone subsidiary Reliance Jio Infocomm.
The debut on the stock exchange, therefore, is not just a showcase for Jio’s digital growth. It can also strengthen the financial structure of the group. For those evaluating the operation, both dimensions count: the ability to reduce debt and the ability to transform traffic, customers and the network into future profits.
Comparison with Italy: more data, less mobile revenue
The Italian case is not comparable to the Indian one, but it helps to focus on the same question. According to Agcom, between 2021 and 2025, overall electronic communications resources in Italy grew by 6%, from 27.85 to 29.53 billion euros. Within the total, however, the trajectories are opposite: revenues from the fixed network rose by 20%, those from the mobile network fell by 11.4%.
Meanwhile, the average daily data traffic per “human” SIM grew by almost 113% between September 2021 and September 2025. In other words, much more traffic travels on Italian mobile networks, but the sector collects less than four years earlier.
| Electronic communications in Italy | Change 2021-2025 |
|---|---|
| Overall industry resources | +6% |
| Landline revenues | +20% |
| Mobile network revenues | −11.4% |
| Average daily data traffic for “human” SIM | +112.8% |
Source: Agcom. Traffic data compares September 2021 and September 2025.
Talking about a “telecommunications crisis”, in general, would be imprecise. The sector as a whole has grown and the fixed network has compensated for the decline in mobile. However, competition and pressure on margins remain strong, as also shown by the Italian telecommunications market, where operators are looking for new forms of collaboration and sharing of infrastructures.
Even the results of individual companies are different: Iliad closed 2025 with growing revenues and free cash flow, an example that invites us not to read the sector data as a uniform crisis. The critical issue concerns, above all, the profitability of mobile services, caught between the increase in consumption, competition on tariffs and the need to invest in infrastructure.
The two markets are not the same, but they ask a common question: how much can a network be worth if the increase in use does not translate, with the same intensity, into greater revenues?
For Ambani, the answer will have to convince investors to pay a valuation of over 100 billion. For Italian operators, the challenge is to increase the economic value of services and infrastructures that are already widely used.
