Jio secured $2.2 bn funding from Swedish firm EKN for 5G rollout: RIL Annual Report

Jio Infocomm Limited, the telecom subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has received $2.2 billion in funding from the Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN) to roll out 5G services across India, as per RIL's annual report released on Sunday. 

"RJIL (Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited) tied up its first ever Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN) supported facilities of $2.2 billion equivalent making it the largest cover ever provided by EKN for a deal to a private corporate globally. The proceeds of the facilities shall be utilised to finance the equipment and services about RJIL’s pan-India 5G rollout," says the telecom major says.

According to the company, Jio Infocomm has a 439.3 million subscriber base at present. The telecom major, which is present across more than 2,300 cities and approximately 6,20,000 rural villages, plans to achieve pan-India coverage by December 2023. The company has 700 MHz, 700 MHz, 3500 MHz, and 26 GHz spectrum bands in its portfolio.

As of May 2023, the company has cornered a market share of 38.17% and 33.18%, in terms of wireless services and wireline services, respectively, according to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

"Jio has indigenously developed an end-to-end 5G stack which is fully cloud-native, software-defined, digitally managed, with support for even advanced features like Quantum Security. This has already been deployed in the Jio network and makes Jio 5G uniquely positioned to offer captive or private 5G solutions for Indian enterprises. This stack not only enhances strategic capability but will also enable us to become an exporter of telecom products," the report notes.

"Jio has built a complete array of 5G radio products including a massive MIMO radio unit, indoor small cell, mmWave outdoor small cell, 5G integrated macro gNodeB, 5G indoor combo small cell and a combined centralised and distributed unit. Jio has also developed its own indigenous 5G core which with its radio products complies with global 3GPP standards. Jio’s True 5G technology stack offers superior performance and eases of installation besides being secure, cost competitive and agile," it adds.

In the April to June quarter, the telecom company’s net profit surged 12% year-on-year to ₹4,863 crore as against ₹4,335 crore reported in the same period last year. The company’s revenue from operations grew 10% year-on-year to ₹24,042 crore as against ₹21,783 crore in the same period last year.

Notably, in order to bolster its presence, the company launched the internet-enabled Jio Bharat Phone at a price of ₹999 last month. Touted to be the ‘lowest entry price’ the phone is available in two series-Jio Bharat V2 and Jio Bharat K1 Karbonn. Jio Bharat Phone will offer a 30% cheaper monthly plan and seven times more data compared to feature phone offerings of other operators, the company had said earlier.