Jio turns focus to new feature phone from MNP for customer acquisition: Industry executives

Mumbai: Reliance Jio is focusing on expanding its consumer base by pushing sales of the Jio Bharat phone, veering away from paying high incentives to encourage mobile number portability (MNP), as the telecom market leader looks to moderate sales and marketing costs, industry executives and experts said.

The telco saw sales and general administration costs sharply increase over the past few quarters — to Rs 540 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2023, from Rs 310 crore in the fourth quarter of FY22, indicating a jump of 74% over six quarters.