Jio to always stand for affordability: Ambani

New Delhi: IPO-bound Jio Platforms, which houses telecom major Reliance Jio, will always remain most affordable while delivering quality service, the company's managing director said on Thursday."Jio has always stood for being the most affordable player in the market and giving the highest quality of services value for money, and we'll always stand for that," Jio Platforms managing director and Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani told PTI on the sidelines of India Mobile Congress.Ambani's comments come amid Jio's rival Bharti Airtel revising mobile tariffs to increase average revenue per user and margins.India's second-largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel has raised its postpaid tariffs across-the-board by Rs 50 with a revamped set of plans that bundle one free international roaming trip every year.The new plans have come into effect from October 8, 2026, and existing postpaid subscribers will be moved to the nearest higher plan within a month.In effect, the revamped plans translate into a Rs 50 hike over current tariffs for postpaid, and in percentage terms, the increase ranges between 3-11 per cent.Analysts have projected that telecom operators may increase tariffs by 12-15 per cent in the next 4-5 months.Jio's average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 3.3 per cent year-on-year to Rs 215.6 in the second quarter of the current financial year, while Bharti Airtel had posted an increase of 5.6 per cent in ARPU to Rs 264.Talking about Jio's business, Ambani said that the company has ensured that it does not remain only buyers of technology but also creators of technologies."Today, what we've showcased at IMC (India Mobile Congress) is our own satellite stack - a whole data, end-to-end stack which enables 5G product use and also additional services that we'll be able to launch because of that. We will keep on driving to become an end-to-end technology player and creator and enable that so we can scale really, really beneficially," he said.Jio is building its satellite constellation comprising over 1,600 low-Earth orbit satellites with 23 ground stations.The move will enable it to compete with Elon Musk-led Starlink, which has over 11,000 satellites in its constellation.