Jio became overall India handset market leader in 2018: Counterpoint

Reliance Jio became the overall market leader across all handset types in 2018 with a market share of 21 per cent as feature phones grew faster than smartphones for the first time ever, Counterpoint Research said on Friday.

Jio, which has 28 crore users, registered 38 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 as the Indian market saw new category leaders in both feature phone and smartphone segments.

"India remains the largest market in terms of global feature phone volume. India and Middle East are driving the feature phone market, capturing almost 3/4th of global feature phone sales in 2018," said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint. 

"Reliance Jio captured 38 per cent of the feature phone segment in just over a year with its compelling value proposition compared to normal 2G feature phones," he added.

Reliance Jio Infocomm last week reported a 65 per cent increase in its standalone net profit for the October-December 2018 period.

For Jio, average data consumption per user per month is 10.8GB and average voice consumption is recorded at 794 minutes per user per month.

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"Additionally, the Jio `Monsoon Hungama` offer focusing on upgrading 2G feature phone users, helped it to drive sales during the second half of 2018," Pathak added.