Going through Jio Platforms’ DRHP, the biggest takeaway for me is that this is still predominantly a telecom/connectivity business today, but it clearly doesn’t want to be valued like one forever.
Jio ended FY26 with 524.4 million customers, including 268.5 million 5G users, while ARPU increased to ₹214 from ₹181.7 in FY24. At the same time, monthly data consumption has jumped from 28.7 GB to 42.3 GB per customer in just two years.
The financials are equally strong. Revenue has grown from roughly ₹1.10 lakh crore in FY24 to ₹1.47 lakh crore in FY26, while EBITDA increased from ₹54,959 crore to ₹76,255 crore. EBITDA margin is now close to 52%, and PAT crossed ₹30,000 crore in FY26.
But the most interesting number in the entire DRHP may actually be capex.
Cash capex has fallen from around ₹53,510 crore in FY24 to ₹34,184 crore in FY26. As a result, Jio’s EBITDA less cash capex has exploded from just ₹1,449 crore in FY24 to ₹42,071 crore in FY26.
That could be the beginning of an important transition.
For years, the Jio story was essentially:
Build network → spend enormous capex → acquire subscribers → monetise later.
The next phase could potentially become:
Grow ARPU + add broadband homes + monetise existing infrastructure → let free cash flow grow faster than revenue.
JioFiber/JioAirFiber is probably the clearest second growth engine. Jio already has 27.1 million fixed broadband customers, roughly 42.6% market share, and captured nearly 68% of all broadband net additions in FY26.
India’s broadband penetration is still only around 20%, so unlike mobile, this market still has a very long runway. Jio itself describes home broadband as its next major growth driver.
Then comes everything investors will probably hear a lot about during the IPO roadshow: AI, cloud, enterprise software, CPaaS, IoT, advertising, JioPC and international licensing of Jio’s technology stack.
The opportunity is real. Jio has built its own 5G core, OSS/BSS stack, FWA technology and cloud platforms, and it wants to eventually sell some of this technology internationally.
But there is an important distinction investors should make:
These are opportunities today, not necessarily earnings streams that deserve full technology-company valuations today.
The DRHP itself says international monetisation of Jio’s technology stack has not yet commenced.
There are also a few things worth watching beneath the headline numbers. Prepaid connectivity still accounts for 77.08% of consolidated revenue, and Reliance Retail is Jio’s sole distributor for prepaid services. The group also has substantial related-party arrangements with RIL and other Reliance entities across distribution, infrastructure, data centres and services. That isn’t automatically a red flag, but it matters when valuing Jio as an independent listed company.
The IPO structure is interesting too. The DRHP currently proposes a pure fresh issue, with up to 270 million new shares and no OFS disclosed. Up to ₹27,500 crore of the proceeds is intended to repay RJIL borrowings.
So this IPO isn’t primarily Meta, Google or PE investors rushing for the exit. It is largely about deleveraging Jio and establishing a public-market valuation for the business.
And that’s where the real investment debate begins.
Jio is undoubtedly one of India’s strongest consumer distribution platforms. It has scale, infrastructure, pricing power potential, enormous data consumption, rising broadband penetration and now declining capex intensity.
But a great business can still be a poor investment if the IPO price already assumes Jio successfully becomes a telecom + cloud + AI + enterprise + advertising platform.
The key question isn’t whether Jio deserves a premium to a traditional telecom company.
It probably does.
The harder question is:
How much of the future technology-platform story should investors pay for today, before those businesses become meaningful contributors to profits?
That is the number I would focus on once the IPO valuation is announced.
For the community, I think the most interesting debates are: Should Jio trade closer to Airtel or closer to a technology platform? Is falling capex more important than subscriber growth from here? How much ARPU upside does India realistically have? Does owning Jio directly become better than owning RIL? And at what valuation does the market stop giving you the future for free and start making you pay upfront for it?