Reliance Jio’s September quarter results revealed a shift from mobile-led expansion to home connectivity as the company deepened its fixed wireless access (FWA) and broadband footprint, as per the market analysts.
Jio Focusing On Home Broadband
This quarter witnessed the addition of 8.3 million users further taking its total subscriber base to 506 million.
It appears that the record FWA additions helped in lifting its home broadband base to 23 million.
When it comes to the Fixed broadband (including FWA) subscriber, its net additions came in at 2.4 million in Q2FY26, and 5G net additions at 21 million.
The 5G data now contributes half of total network usage, while FWA accounts for nearly 9.5 million of Jio’s fixed broadband customers according to the ICICI Securities analysts.
FWA net adds (2.1 million) remain ahead of FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) adds (0.9 million), underscoring Jio’s early success in expanding last-mile home connectivity, said the Analysts from J.P. Morgan.
This is seen as a structural transition for Jio, with the home broadband segment emerging as a key growth lever as wireless additions moderate by the experts.
It appears that the sustained fixed wireless growth should support revenue and earnings growth in the coming quarters, while also providing operating leverage as subscriber mix improves said analysts from Jefferies.
Why This Shift?
When it comes to the Home-broadband, it is a higher average revenue per user (Arpu) segment.
If we compare the pricing, Mobile plans and pre-paid packs start as low as Rs 399 and Rs 200 respectively, while home broadband connections start at Rs 500-600 depending on the provider.
So, an increase in this cohort also bodes well for customer stickiness since consumers are more likely to continue with a service provider for their home broadband connections, said the analysts.
Interestingly Jio’s profitability remained robust despite continued 5G investments as EBITDA rose 3.31% on-quarter to Rs 17, 874 crore, with margins steady at 54.2%.
The sharp decline in staff costs and flat network operating costs resulted in Ebitda margins expanding by 20bps in Q2FY26 , the Analysts from Jefferies noted.
During this time, the company’s underlying capex intensity has reduced, helping boost free cash flow generation, with free cash flow in the first half of FY26 rising to Rs 8700 crore as per the ICICI Securities analysts.
Falling mostly in line with expectations, company’s Arpu increased 1.2% sequentially to Rs 211, aided by premiumisation and 5G adoption.
According to the analysts, the gain to greater data consumption, one extra day in the quarter and a rising mix of home connections.
The analysts expect the next leg of expansion to hinge on pricing and deeper broadband penetration with wireless growth plateauing and tariffs unchanged.
Moving ahead, ARPU is expected to grow at an 11% compound rate through FY28, led by three tariff hikes of 10% each in FY26–28.
