Facebook has made a significant investment in Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio.
Earlier this year, Reliance Jio surpassed Vodafone Idea to become India’s largest mobile operator by subscriber count.
With a population exceeding 1.3 billion, India presents vast growth potential—particularly attractive to a company like Facebook.
In a Facebook post, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote:
“Facebook is teaming up with Jio Platforms — we’re making a financial investment, and more than that, we’re committing to work together on some major projects that will open up commerce opportunities for people across India.
India is home to the largest communities on Facebook and WhatsApp, and a lot of talented entrepreneurs. The country is in the middle of a major digital transformation and organizations like Jio have played a big part in getting hundreds of millions of Indian people and small businesses online.
This is especially important right now, because small businesses are the core of every economy and they need our support. India has more than 60 million small businesses and millions of people rely on them for jobs. With communities around the world in lockdown, many of these entrepreneurs need digital tools they can rely on to find and communicate with customers and grow their businesses. This is something we can help with — and that’s why we’re partnering with Jio to help people and businesses in India create new opportunities.”
Currently, more than 500 million people in India have internet access and roughly 450 million use smartphones. Yet more than half the population remains offline, highlighting a substantial market for digital expansion.
As the world’s largest social network, Facebook’s growth depends on bringing more people online and encouraging use of its services.
Following the deal, Facebook will hold a 9.99 percent stake in Reliance Jio. That stake gives Facebook an opportunity to collaborate closely with India’s biggest telco and to promote its services to Jio’s more than 370 million—and rapidly growing—subscribers.
With apps like TikTok gaining global traction and reaching audiences Facebook has found difficult to capture, Zuckerberg and his team are clearly eyeing India as a major front for further expansion and competition in social and commerce services.
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