A decade after entering India’s telecom market, Jio Platforms has expanded its reach well beyond mobile connectivity. With a customer base of 524 million, the company is building businesses across broadband, home connectivity, entertainment, devices and enterprise services as it prepares to go public.
Jio established its position in 2016 by building a 4G network and offering disruptive pricing while rivals continued to operate older 2G and 3G networks. It is now using the reach of its mobile network to build additional businesses around its large customer base.
The company is extending connectivity from smartphones into homes, using devices to bring more users into its ecosystem and offering entertainment and other digital services on top of its network. Enterprise services provide another avenue for monetising its connectivity infrastructure.
“Jio’s differentiation lies in the ecosystem it has created across mobile, fixed broadband, AirFiber, cloud, devices and enterprise services,” said Ashwinder Sethi, Partner at Analysys Mason.
“Jio considers digital platforms and technology services as a core of its overall strategy rather than adjacency to connectivity. It also plans to deploy its own LEO satellite constellations as well as partner with satellite providers to offer rural connectivity and satellite-based services.”
The latest available TRAI data shows India’s telecom subscriber base crossed 1.35 billion in July 2026, while broadband subscribers reached about 1.09 billion. Jio remained the largest broadband provider with 535.1 million subscribers, ahead of Airtel’s 384.2 million.
In mobile, Jio had about 506 million subscribers and a 39.3% market share at the end of July, followed by Airtel at around 38%. Vodafone Idea had roughly 130 million subscribers.
Jio added about 27 million net active mobility customers in FY26, around 3 times the additions of the second-largest player. Its network carried 241.4 billion GB of data during the year. Monthly data consumption stood at 42.3GB per customer, compared with 31.4GB for Airtel India and 20.2GB for Vodafone Idea.
Telecom analyst Mahesh Uppal said Jio’s decision to build an exclusively 4G network helped shape its market position.
“The choice of 4G and having it exclusively for the network was a very ambitious as well as enlightened choice. That certainly helped and was quite decisive. It meant that Jio did not have multiple networks to support and maintain,” Uppal of ComFirst told Moneycontrol.
Analysys Mason expects India’s mobile broadband base to reach 1.34 billion by FY31, from about 1 billion customers at the end of March. Monthly ARPU is projected to rise to Rs 326.4 from Rs 199.8.
Jio is also expanding in home connectivity. India’s fixed broadband market is expected to more than double from 63.6 million customers in FY26 to 150.4 million by FY31.
Jio had 27.1 million fixed broadband customers, giving it a 42.6% market share, compared with Airtel’s 22.7%. The company captured 67.6% of net fixed-broadband additions in FY26, according to its DRHP.
Its 5G and unlicensed-band radio-based fixed wireless access business had 12.9 million customers and accounted for 77.5% of the advanced FWA market.
While Airtel is focusing more on fibre-to-the-home and reassessing the economics of 5G-based FWA, Jio continues to pursue both fibre and FWA. This allows it to offer fibre in established markets and FWA where last-mile fibre deployment is more difficult.
Jio is also looking beyond terrestrial networks. At Reliance Industries’ 49th annual meeting, it said it was evaluating a sovereign low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation for India while also using capacity from global satellite operators.
Neil Shah, Vice President at Counterpoint Research, said the strategy is designed to extend connectivity beyond terrestrial wireless and fixed-fibre networks.
“Jio’s connectivity playbook is designed to leave zero gaps by extending far beyond terrestrial wireless and fixed-fiber networks into LEO satellite communication,” Shah said.
The company is also building control across devices and operating systems. JioBharat and its JioOS ecosystem provide access to the large remaining 2G and entry-level consumer base, while its digital services portfolio allows it to generate revenue beyond connectivity.
“At a time when entry-level smartphone prices are climbing and creating an affordability barrier, controlling the device and operating system layer is Jio’s ultimate user-acquisition and retention moat,” Shah said.
The ecosystem also extends into entertainment. Analysys Mason estimates India’s digital entertainment market will grow from Rs 51,700 crore in FY26 to Rs 89,000 crore by FY31. Jio has integrated OTT platforms, music and gaming into its connectivity offerings and has partnerships with more than 15 OTT providers.
Enterprise digitisation is another growth area. India’s business connectivity market is projected to reach Rs 88,000 crore by FY31, while less than 5% of MSMEs are estimated to have fixed broadband.
AI is increasingly being integrated across these businesses. Jio has developed a technology stack spanning network software, devices and applications, with AI being used for network automation, consumer services, cloud and enterprise applications.
The company has also developed a “Made in India” 4G and 5G stack and was the first Indian operator to deploy standalone 5G.
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