Jio Platforms, the digital arm of Reliance Industries, maintained growth momentum in its fiscal Q2 (ending 30 September), booking double-digit profit and revenue gains despite slowing subscriber additions and lower ARPU.

Net profit grew 23.5 per cent year-on-year to INR37.3 billion ($497.1 million) on revenue of INR232.2 billion, up 15.2 per cent

In a statement, Jio cited a Covid-19 (coronavirus) led spike in churn of low-end subscribers for a net decline of 11.1 million, but mobile unit Reliance Jio added 23.8 million for a total of 429.2 million.

Annual net additions declined by more than 50 per cent from 50.4 million in fiscal Q2 2021.

ARPU fell 1 per cent to INR143.60. Average monthly data usage grew 46.7 per cent to 17.6GB.

Reliance Jio in June started standalone 5G trials in Mumbai using mid-band and mmWave spectrum, and stated it is actively trialling use cases and exploring partnerships with global system integrators and SaaS providers.