By Amy-Jo Crowley and Aditya Kalra
LONDON/NEW DELHI, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms has held talks with several companies including Comcast and Charter Communications about licensing its wireless broadband technology in exchange for potential stakes in the businesses, two people familiar with the matter said.
Jio also held discussions with South Africa’s MTN Group, but the talks broke down because the two sides were unable to agree on valuation and certain licensing issues, the people said.
The people said there was no timetable for reaching a deal with any of the parties that Jio has spoken to.
Jio, which listed in Mumbai last week after a record-breaking $3.2 billion IPO, did not respond to Reuters queries.
Spokespeople for Comcast and Charter declined to comment.
Controlled by Ambani’s Reliance Industries, Jio has for months signaled plans to expand internationally with its proprietary broadband technology, which Reliance calls a “global first”.
The system runs on free, unlicensed Wi-Fi frequencies, making it cheaper to deliver internet to homes than traditional cable networks or mobile-based services.
A deal with Comcast or Charter would give Jio a foothold in the United States, where cable companies are losing home broadband customers to fixed wireless and fiber.
Jio said last week it was targeting 10 to 15 partners globally for its technology platform that works on so-called unlicensed band radio (UBR). It works without cable connections to homes, using transmitters mounted on nearby towers or rooftops to beam high-speed internet over Wi-Fi frequencies to receivers installed on buildings.
MTN could not persuade Jio to invest at a satisfactory valuation, said one of the people. The financial details of the potential partnership were not immediately clear.
MTN said it does not comment on market speculation.
THE LUCRATIVE US MARKET
In the United States, home broadband has become a key battleground between telecom carriers and cable companies, as carriers push fiber and fixed wireless services to win customers from cable. Last month, Comcast co-CEO Mike Cavanagh said “fixed wireless remains aggressive and continues to take share,” on the company’s earnings call. He added that satellite providers could eventually win broadband customers.
Still, cable held 62% of US residential broadband connections at the end of 2024, and that dominance is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, S&P Global Market Intelligence said last year.
Comcast had about 28.3 million residential broadband customers at the end of September, while Charter had about 29.4 million internet customers in June — but both have been losing customers to fixed wireless and fiber. The Jio technology could allow Comcast and Charter to sell broadband services more cheaply than they do now.
“Telecom spectrum is a scarce resource and is expensive. UBR can be very attractive to likes of Comcast and Charter as they can deliver cellular quality broadband over spectrum they don’t have to buy,” Neil Shah, director at Hong Kong-based Counterpoint Research, said.
‘RELIANCE TALKING TO EVERYONE’
Jio Platforms is India’s biggest telecom company with over 500 million subscribers, second only to China Mobile on the basis of single-country subscribers. It also has nearly 15 million wired broadband users and Reliance says its UBR-powered users now exceed 6.5 million.
The international expansion push of Jio is co-led by Dan Bailey, former chairman of Deutsche Bank’s technology, media and telecom practice, who was appointed this year, and long-serving senior executive Mathew Oommen.
The talks with Comcast and Charter come amid comments from Jio’s leadership that the company is pursuing overseas growth by selling its technology to foreign operators rather than building its own networks abroad.
The second person added: “Reliance is talking to everyone. Many players in Europe, United States.”
In an analyst call on Friday, Managing Director Akash Ambani said Jio wants to take the UBR technology to both developed and developing markets, but will be “very, very selective about the international markets.”
“We want to be a technology-led business there,” he said, while highlighting the potential of the US market by saying 3% of the customers there clog up 65% of the fixed wireless capacity on 5G. “Those are the kind of markets that we have.”
(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley in London and Aditya Kaira in New Delhi; additional reporting by Ed Lee. Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Sanjeev Miglani)
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