According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on October 27th, Jio, India’s largest telecom operator and a company backed by Meta and Google, will conduct its initial public offering (IPO) and go public on the 28th.
Although the Indian stock market has been sluggish recently, this largest IPO in Indian history, worth $3.2 billion, still attracted the attention of top global fund managers, domestic institutions, and individual investors.
Jio controlled by Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, is one of India's most influential companies with around 500 million subscribers for its low-cost mobile data services. However, its rapid rise has always been accompanied by controversy.
This company entered the crowded telecom market in India in 2016, attracting millions of Indians to access the internet with extremely low costs. However, its entry caused a significant shake-up in the telecom industry. The market, which once had 17 operators, has shrunk to a oligopolistic structure. Critics accuse this financially powerful company of launching price wars, driving competitors out of the market.
Recently, Elon Musk criticized Ambani, calling him “the real boss of India,” implying that Jio is trying to prevent Starlink from entering India. Reliance Group denied these accusations and said it welcomes competition from Musk.
The BBC noted that, despite being under scrutiny over the past decade, Jio’s discount data packages have remained a cornerstone of India’s digital revolution. Within three years of their launch, user data usage increased by fifty times, and data prices dropped significantly.
This aggressive discount strategy helped Jio quickly acquire approximately 553 million mobile users by 2026. Jio has also consolidated its dominance in other areas, occupying 50% of India’s wireless broadband market and more than 40% of the fixed broadband market.
However, analysts say that its listing may mark a turning point in Jio's pricing strategy, potentially ending the era of extremely low costs that has lasted for many years.
Jio's low-fee era is coming to an end as a market share weapon. This was stated by KamayaKya Wealth Management Company co-founder Nitiya Shah. "After its listing, Jio must be accountable to the minority shareholders… which structurally reduces its inherent drive to maintain low fees."
The agency Motilal Oswal stated in its report that Jio’s future growth will no longer be driven by increasing users through discounted packages. Instead, it will depend on “increasing revenue per user—through the transition to 5G, continuous rate adjustments, and extending fixed wireless broadband to homes that have never been covered by fiber optics.”
Going public may also pave the way for Jio to raise prices against its competitors, as concerns about being undercut by cheaper rivals are starting to fade away.
For Indian consumers, any further price increases will follow the industry-wide rate hikes a few years ago. Analysts say that this new round of price increases could lead to another wave of user loss from the market, as price-sensitive customers will switch to the cheapest packages.
