Vodafone Idea, India’s third-largest telecom service provider, is showing signs of stabilisation in customer additions, with the operator recording its highest monthly subscriber gain in more than a year in July 2026.
According to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Vodafone Idea added 2.44 lakh mobile subscribers in July, marking its highest monthly net addition in more than a year. The improvement comes after the government granted relief to the company on its adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues in December 2025.
The government’s intervention followed Supreme Court judgments dated October 27 and November 3, 2025, which stated that there was no legal impediment to the Union Government reconsidering the dues.
Following an assessment by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Vodafone Idea’s AGR dues were reduced by Rs23,649 crore to Rs64,046 crore as of December 31, 2025.
Between July 2025 and January 2026, Vodafone Idea lost 57.50 lakh mobile subscribers, with the highest monthly decline recorded in October 2025. According to TRAI data, the company lost around 20 lakh customers in October, followed by 10 lakh in November and 9.4 lakh in December 2025.
The pace of subscriber losses slowed in January 2026, when the operator lost 4.11 lakh users, bringing its market share to 15.86%.
The trend reversed in February 2026, when Vi added 21,927 customers. Subscriber additions steadily gained traction over the following months, with the company adding 1 lakh users in March, 53,000 in April, 1.21 lakh in May, 1.63 lakh in June and 2.44 lakh in July.
Despite the rebound in subscriber additions, Vi’s market share declined from 15.86% in January to 15.46% in July 2026.
Meanwhile, the company has been making progress in raising funds. According to Vodafone Idea CEO Abhijit Kishore, the company has already raised Rs6,400 crore, including Rs1,183 crore through warrants and debt proceeds via external commercial borrowings (ECB) and Indian private banks.
The company plans to invest Rs45,000 crore in capital expenditure to expand its 4G coverage and accelerate its 5G rollout.
Financially, Vi narrowed its net loss to Rs3,754 crore in the first quarter of FY27, compared with a net loss of ₹6,608 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Its average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to Rs195 in Q1 FY27 from Rs177 in Q1 FY26, marking a year-on-year increase of 10.2%.
For AGR dues, according to the company’s exchange filing, Vodafone Idea will be required to pay a minimum of Rs100 crore annually for four years from FY2031-32 to FY2034-35. The remaining amount will be paid in six equal annual instalments from FY2035-36 to FY2040-41. Under the earlier payment schedule, the telco was required to pay Rs18,000 crore by March 2026. The telco has also announced plans to repay nearly Rs49,000 crore in spectrum dues over the next three years.
Speaking at the 31st annual general meeting, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said the company’s business plan factors in servicing all scheduled spectrum payments over the next three years. As per the schedule, Vi is required to pay about Rs7,000 crore in FY27, Rs15,000 crore in FY28 and Rs27,000 crore in FY29 towards its spectrum dues.
