Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel reported a 33.5% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 7,325 crore for the January-March quarter of FY26, compared to Rs 11,021 crore in the year-ago period. Last quarter, the company had a one-time net tax gain of Rs 2,892 crore. On a sequential basis, however, the company reported a 10.4% rise in profit and a 2.5% increase in revenue. The company’s revenue from operations surged 15.6% year-on-year to Rs 55,383.2 crore in Q4 FY26 from Rs 47,876.2 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Airtel’s India revenue grew 7.7% year-on-year to Rs 39,566 crore.
Consolidated EBITDA increased 16.9% year-on-year to Rs 32,038 crore in Q4 FY26, while the consolidated EBITDA margin stood at 57.8%. India EBITDA margin came in at 60.6%.
For the full FY26, Airtel’s consolidated profit declined 20.4% to Rs 26,695 crore from Rs 33,556 crore in FY25. However, its annual revenue rose 21.9% to Rs 2,10,972.8 crore.
The company reported strong growth in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), which rose to Rs 257 in Q4 FY26 from Rs 245 in Q4 FY25. Airtel’s postpaid segment added 0.8 million customers during the quarter, taking the total postpaid customer base to 29 million.
The number of smartphone data customers increased by 20 million over the past year, registering a 7.2% year-on-year growth. Airtel said that during Q4 FY26, it deployed 2,426 towers and 16,746 mobile broadband base stations. Over the past year, the company added 7,883 towers and deployed 43,290 kilometres of fibre to strengthen its digital infrastructure.
Capital expenditure during the quarter stood at Rs 16,066 crore, driven by investments in 5G densification, accelerated fibre deployment, connected homes expansion, Airtel Business and data centres. The consolidated net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved to 1.29 times from 1.86 times as of March 31, 2025. The consolidated net debt (excluding leases) to EBITDAaL ratio stood at 0.79.
“We ended FY26 on a strong note, demonstrating the power of our diversified portfolio. FY26 was an important year in our journey –we crossed the 650 million customer mark… We will continue to accelerate our investments towards building world class digital networks, future proof Airtel by putting AI at the heart and sharpen our portfolio for long-term growth. In addition a major focus for us is to completely eliminate diesel from our operations. We are working with Indus Towers to scale clean energy. At the same time, we believe further tariff repair remains critical to support continued investments and long-term value creation,” said Gopal Vittal.