Bharti Airtel has announced a robust 24 per cent surge in its consolidated net profit to Rs 10,710 crore for the September 2026 quarter, largely attributed to strategic mobile tariff adjustments and a significant increase in Average Revenue Per User.
Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters
Key Points
- Bharti Airtel’s consolidated net profit surged by 24 per cent to Rs 10,710 crore in the September 2026 quarter, up from Rs 8,651 crore a year ago.
- Consolidated revenue from operations increased by 16.7 per cent to Rs 60,877.5 crore, with India revenue growing 9.4 per cent to Rs 42,308 crore.
- Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) expanded to Rs 271 in Q2 FY27 from Rs 256 in Q2 FY26, driven by tariff rejigs and strong customer additions.
- The company’s global customer base grew by 11 per cent to 69.25 crore, with India’s mobile customer base reaching 37.72 crore.
- Airtel’s net debt declined by approximately 14 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.66 lakh crore.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported a 24 per cent increase in consolidated profit to Rs 10,710 crore in the second quarter ended September 2026, citing higher per-user revenue after a rejig in mobile phone tariffs.
The company had a profit of Rs 8,651 crore in the same period a year ago, according to a regulatory filing.
Revenue Growth and ARPU Expansion
Consolidated revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by 16.7 per cent to Rs 60,877.5 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 52,145.4 crore in the same quarter of the last year.
Bharti Airtel’s India revenue grew by 9.4 per cent to Rs 42,308 crore.
India mobile service revenue increased by 10.1 per cent YoY, driven by strong customer additions and improved realisation, with Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) expanding to Rs 271 in Q2 FY27 from Rs 256 in Q2 FY26, the company said.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal said Africa delivered a standout quarter with 6.7 per cent QoQ constant currency revenue growth.
He said Africa’s improving performance is also benefiting from the rollout of Airtel’s homegrown technology stack across markets, powering our go-to-market capabilities.
“India business recorded strong revenue growth of 2.7 per cent sequentially. India mobile delivered revenue growth of 3.4 per cent QoQ, backed by our strategy of portfolio premiumization and winning quality customers,” Vittal said.
Customer Base and Data Usage
Bharti Airtel recorded an 11 per cent increase in global customer base to 69.25 crore during the reported quarter from 62.35 crore in the year-ago period.
Airtel’s India customer base increased by about 11 per cent to 49.86 crore.
The company’s mobile customer base grew by 3.6 per cent to 37.72 crore while home service, which includes fixed line broadband services, grew by about 29 per cent to 1.53 crore.
Mobile data usage per customer on Airtel’s network grew by 28.8 per cent to 36.5 GB in the September 2026 quarter from 28.3 GB a year ago.
Vittal said Airtel’s postpaid momentum remained strong with record high net customer additions of 12 lakh.
“We added 2.9 million (29 lakh) smartphone data customers with continued improvement of our industry-leading ARPU at Rs 271,” Vittal said.
Airtel said strategic focus on strengthening its portfolio proposition led to exceptional performance in the postpaid segment, resulting in record net additions of 12 lakh, taking total base to 3.12 crore.
The smartphone data customer base expanded by 1.88 crore over the past year.
Capex and Debt Reduction
Airtel’s consolidated capex for the quarter stood at Rs 12,467 crore, including India capex of Rs 9,908 crore during the reported quarter.
“We continue to strengthen our digital infrastructure and deployed 497 towers and 11,684 mobile broadband base stations during the quarter.
Over the past year, network expansion included 5,649 towers and 44,718 kilometres of fiber, significantly enhancing coverage, capacity, and resilience,” the company said.
In addition, the company said that it has invested Rs 2,826 crore in a strategic land parcel for data centre expansion in India.
The net debt of the company declined by about 14 per cent to Rs 1.66 lakh crore from Rs 1.94 lakh crore on a year-on-year basis.
