Earlier this year India’s Bharti Airtel announced a partnership with Google. As mobile telcos venture further into e-commerce and rich media content such partnerships make sense. Airtel is one of the well established mobile companies in India, with a presence in Africa and the Middle East as well.
But a much larger deal was announced by Facebook this week. The Menlo Park company invest $5.7 billion into Reliance Jio, a carrier established just four years ago by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani (whose has prior experience with disruptive innovation into telecom from the 1990s). Facebook’s 9.9 stake in Jio values this carrier at $60 billion and skyrockets its implied market cap past Indian stalwarts say as IT giant Infosys, banking powerhouse HDFC and makes it India’s fifth largest company by valuation.
Jio’s parent is mostly an oil company but has important interests in retail and in entertainment. If this partnership works out, look for major moved by Facebook into Indian e-commerce, sports and the movies/TV. Ambani sees that oil will be a declining business and has bet his company on telecom, e-commerce and entertainment.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
