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Jio Leasing Services Ltd (JLSL), a subsidiary of Jio Financial Services, plans to buy customer premises equipment, devices and telecom equipment worth $4.32 billion from Reliance Retail over the next two financial years, according to a postal ballot notice<\/a> (PDF) sent to shareholders seeking approval of the deal.<\/p>\n JLSL is entering the business of operating a Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) model \u2014 it will lease telecom devices along with associated services to customers of Reliance Jio Infocomm. Reliance Retail, valued at about $100 billion Reliance Industries<\/a> in 2023, will sell the devices to JLSL at cost plus margin.<\/p>\n The deal will be one of the largest equipment transactions in the Indian telecom sector. By shifting to a leasing model through JLSL, Jio aims to make it more affordable for customers to get access to the latest 5G devices and attract more subscribers to its network.<\/p>\n The transaction will be spread over the financial years ending March 2025 and March 2026.<\/p>\n Jio Financial Services was a little-known, non-bank financial subsidiary of Reliance Industries until the conglomerate demerged the unit<\/a> and listed it last year<\/a>. Reliance still owns more than 80% of the company.<\/p>\n Jio Financial Services also plans to offer its payment aggregator and gateway services to Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail, according to the notice.<\/p>\n The deal signifies Jio Financial Services\u2019 growing interest in businesses beyond lending. Via the DaaS model, the company is planning to lease devices like laptops and its mobile hotspot AirFiber<\/a> to businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n