Social media platform Facebook and India's largest mobile network company Reliance Jio are in talks for a multi-billion dollar partnership that will allow Facebook to expand its presence in India. The news comes as the Financial Times reported that it was citing two sources who had knowledge of the matter. The report says that the two companies were about to sign a preliminary agreement that would have given Facebook a 10% stake in Jio. However, due to government restrictions to contain the coronavirus epidemic, the deal is expected to continue once the bottlenecks are eased. With over 370 million subscribers, Reliance Jio is valued at over €60 billion, and the deal would allow Facebook to advance its Whatsapp services in the country, such as the long-awaited Whatsapp payment service.
Facebook and Reliance Jio in partnership
Reliance Jio came out in 2016, but has since expanded into the national broadband space with Jio Fiber and other retail stores. Microsoft recently also announced plans to partner with Jio for its cloud computing business. However, due to increased debt, Reliance now aims to reduce net debt to zero by March 2021. To this end, the company is looking to sell interests to potential partners where Facebook is likely to have an interest. 10% in the company when the agreement is finalized. For Facebook, the company hasn't always had the best dealing experience with telecom and government carriers here, for example, it's the Free Basics app that has been removed from the networks. In short, the Free Basics app was aimed at providing free internet access to people with essential services like Wikipedia and social apps. Facebook is also expected to have its largest user base in India than any other country with more than 400 million Whatsapp users. The deal would help the company expand its services to India, gain more users, launch payment services, and more. The Internet user base in India is also expected to reach 850 million by the end of 2022.