Reliance Jio Now Has 160 Million Users on Its 4G LTE Network

The Reliance-owned telecom operator confirmed the number at a recent event attended by SRK and Akash Ambani.

The latest user base numbers for Jio were shared by Akash Ambani on Saturday. 

(Photo: BloombergQuint) 

The customer base of Reliance Jio has touched 160 million, a little over a year after the newcomer stormed into the telecom market with aggressive voice and data offerings.

The latest subscriber base of the telecom operator was revealed by Akash Ambani, son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, at an interaction with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan during a glitzy event on Monday evening to mark Reliance Industries' 40 years of existence, and to commemorate founder Dhirubhai Ambani's birthday.

In an onstage chat with the Ambani twins, Akash and Isha, the 52-year-old actor mentioned that Jio now has 100 million subscribers. Akash corrected him, saying "160 million, SRK!", in turn prompting the 'Badshah of Bollywood' to take a dig at just how good the Ambanis were with numbers.

Reliance Jio entered the highly-competitive telecom sector in September 2016, with a six-month promotional offer of free voice and data, a strategy that helped it mobilise millions of users.

The telecom operator has also announced a new cashback program, which offers returns up to Rs 3,300 by recharging for Rs 399 before 15 January 2018.

The mobile subscriber base of India, the second largest market after China, stands at over 1.1 billion with Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular as the top three operators.

As per last published data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the subscriber base in October for Bharti Airtel stood at 285 million, followed by Vodafone (208 million), Idea Cellular (191 million), and Jio (145.9 million).

(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT to find #PollutionKaSolution. Send in your suggestions to [e-mail] or WhatsApp @ [phone])