Jio Platforms’ draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) offers more than details of what could become the country’s largest initial public offering. It also sheds light on a broader transformation underway in the telecom industry, where operators are increasingly seeking to position themselves as technology companies rather than providers of connectivity alone.
The shift is being driven as much by valuation considerations as by business strategy. According to analysts, traditional telecom operators have typically been valued on subscriber growth, tariffs, spectrum holdings and cash flows. Technology companies, by contrast, command higher valuation multiples based on software capabilities, digital platforms and future growth potential.
Multiple Expansion
Jio is not alone in pursuing the transition. Bharti Airtel has over the past few years steadily expanded beyond its core connectivity business through Airtel Business, which today offers cloud, cybersecurity, IoT, CPaaS, managed services and private networks to enterprises. Earlier this year, Airtel announced a $1 billion investment in data centre subsidiary Nxtra Data alongside Alpha Wave Global and Carlyle, valuing the business at about $3.1 billion. The capital is being deployed to expand AI-ready data centre infrastructure as demand from hyperscalers, enterprises and AI workloads accelerates.
The company’s diversification push extends further into digital financial services, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure. Airtel has increasingly highlighted Airtel Business, Nxtra and digital services as key growth drivers alongside its mobility and broadband operations. Industry executives say these segments offer significantly stronger growth prospects and margins than traditional telecom services, where revenue growth remains heavily dependent on periodic tariff increases.
The same themes are visible in Jio’s IPO filing. Rather than presenting itself primarily as a telecom operator, the company describes itself as a “nation-scale technology platform” and says it is “fundamentally a technology company with deep-rooted engineering and technology culture”. The filing repeatedly highlights cloud services, artificial intelligence initiatives, digital applications, proprietary software platforms and technology innovation alongside connectivity.
Redefining Telco Identity
To support that positioning, Jio points to more than 11,300 employees engaged in digital products and technology development and over 6,800 patent applications across 4G, 5G, 6G, cloud-native networks and AI-driven network automation. The company has also identified international markets as a future opportunity for its India-built technology stack, including 5G and fixed wireless access solutions.
Analysts said the transformation reflects changing economics across the telecom sector. After spending billions of dollars over the past decade on spectrum acquisitions and network rollouts, operators are increasingly looking to monetise those investments through services built on top of the network. The rollout of 5G has expanded opportunities in enterprise applications, private networks, cloud services, edge computing, cybersecurity and AI.
According to industry executives, in many ways, Airtel and Jio are approaching the same destination through different routes. For instance, Airtel has built separate businesses in data centres, enterprise technology services and digital platforms, while Jio is seeking to position its broader ecosystem of connectivity, software, cloud and AI services as an integrated technology platform. In both cases, the objective is to reduce dependence on traditional connectivity revenues and create higher-growth businesses.
Analysts said Jio’s IPO could become an important test of the market’s willingness to value telecom operators as technology companies. If investors assign a premium to its cloud, AI and platform businesses, it could influence how the broader sector is valued.