Airtel Q2 profit rises 24% to Rs 10,710 crore, revenue grows 16.7%

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported a 24 per cent increase in consolidated profit to Rs 10,710 crore for the second quarter ended September 2026, driven by higher average revenue per user following a restructuring of mobile tariffs and continued growth in its customer base.

The company had posted a consolidated profit of Rs 8,651 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, according to a regulatory filing.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose 16.7 per cent to Rs 60,877.5 crore during the July-September quarter of FY27, compared with Rs 52,145.4 crore in the year-ago period.

Revenue from Airtel's India operations increased 9.4 per cent year-on-year to Rs 42,308 crore, supported by growth in mobile services and broadband connections.

𝗠𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝟭𝟬.𝟭%

India mobile services revenue increased 10.1 per cent year-on-year, driven by strong customer additions and improved realisation.

The company's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key measure of telecom operators' earnings from subscribers, rose to Rs 271 in the September quarter from Rs 256 in the corresponding period last year.

Bharti Airtel Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said the company's India business recorded sequential revenue growth of 2.7 per cent, while mobile services revenue increased 3.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

"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.

He added that the company's focus on attracting higher-value customers and strengthening its service portfolio continued to support revenue growth.

𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀

Airtel reported record net additions of 12 lakh postpaid subscribers during the quarter, taking its total postpaid customer base to 3.12 crore.

The company attributed the growth to its strategic focus on strengthening its portfolio and attracting premium customers.

"We added 2.9 million (29 lakh) smartphone data customers with continued improvement of our industry-leading ARPU at Rs 271," Vittal said.

Airtel's smartphone data customer base expanded by 1.88 crore over the past year, reflecting continued adoption of mobile internet services.

Mobile data consumption per customer increased 28.8 per cent to 36.5 GB during the September 2026 quarter, compared with 28.3 GB in the same period last year.

The increase indicated continued growth in data usage across Airtel's network as customers consumed more mobile internet services.

𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝟭𝟭%

Bharti Airtel's global customer base increased 11 per cent to 69.25 crore during the reported quarter, compared with 62.35 crore a year earlier.

Its India customer base also grew approximately 11 per cent to 49.86 crore.

Within the domestic business, the mobile subscriber base increased 3.6 per cent to 37.72 crore, while the home services segment, which includes fixed-line broadband connections, expanded nearly 29 per cent to 1.53 crore customers.

The growth in home services reflected Airtel's continued expansion in the broadband market.

𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿

Vittal said the company's Africa business delivered a standout performance, recording constant-currency revenue growth of 6.7 per cent sequentially.

He attributed the improvement partly to the deployment of Airtel's homegrown technology stack across African markets.

"Africa's improving performance is also benefiting from the rollout of Airtel's homegrown technology stack across markets, powering our go-to-market capabilities," he said.

The performance of the Africa business contributed to the company's overall revenue growth during the quarter.

𝗥𝘀 𝟭𝟮,𝟰𝟲𝟳 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Bharti Airtel reported consolidated capital expenditure of Rs 12,467 crore during the quarter, including Rs 9,908 crore invested in its India operations.

The company continued to expand its mobile and digital infrastructure to improve network coverage and capacity.

"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.

Airtel also disclosed an investment of Rs 2,826 crore in a strategic land parcel for expanding its data centre operations in India.

The investment forms part of the company's efforts to strengthen its digital infrastructure portfolio alongside its core telecom business.

𝗡𝗲𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝟭𝟰%

The company's net debt declined approximately 14 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.66 lakh crore from Rs 1.94 lakh crore.

The reduction came as Airtel continued investing in network expansion, broadband services and digital infrastructure.

The September quarter results reflected growth across its mobile, home broadband and Africa businesses, supported by higher subscriber realisation and increasing data consumption.

Airtel maintained that its strategy of premiumising its customer portfolio, expanding network infrastructure and improving service offerings would remain central to its business operations.