Bharti Airtel Ltd on Tuesday released its fiscal first quarter earnings report with a profit growth of 57.32 per cent to Rs 7,421.80 crore. It had posted a profit of Rs 4,717.50 crore during the first quarter of FY25. The telecom major recorded revenue from operations at Rs 49,462.60 crore, up 28.45 per cent as against Rs 38,506.40 crore reported during the corresponding quarter of previous financial year. The revenue growth was attributed to strong performance in India and rebound in Africa on reported currency.
Consolidated EBITDA stood at Rs 28,167 crore with EBITDA margin of 56.9 per cent. Bharti Airtel reported ARPU for the quarter at Rs 250 as compared to Rs 211 in Q1FY25.
The company posted consolidated net debt to EBITDA ratio (annualized) at 1.70 times as compared to 1.86 times as on March 31, 2025. Consolidated net debt (excluding lease obligations) to EBITDAaL ratio stood at 1.26 times. Meanwhile, capex for the quarter stood at Rs 8,307 crore.
Gopal Vittal, Vice- Chairman and MD, said, “We delivered another quarter of consistent growth, with consolidated revenues at Rs 49,463 crore growing 3.3 per cent on a sequential basis. Our India revenue, including Passive Infrastructure Services, increased by 2.3 per cent sequentially. Africa reported solid performance with 6.7 per cent growth in constant currency.”
Bharti Airtel Q1: Update on India business
Bharti Airtel’s India revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 37,585 crore, up 29.0 per cent on-year. Mobile revenues grew 21.6 per cent YoY on the back of improved realizations and customer additions.
In the postpaid segment, Bharti Airtel posted net additions of 0.7 million customers in Q1FY26, taking its total customer base to 26.6 million. In the smartphone data segment, the customer base increased by 21.3 million users, reflecting an 8.2 per cent YoY rise.
During Q1, the telecom firm expanded its nationwide network by installing around 1.8K additional towers and approximately 7.5K mobile broadband stations. The company has invested in the addition of around 15.4K towers and deployed 43.7K kms of fiber, on YoY basis.
The Homes business posted 25.7 per cent YoY revenue growth driven by record high customer additions.
Furthermore, Airtel Business revenue declined by 7.7 per cent YoY, impacted by the stated objective of focusing on quality revenues and discontinuing low margin business.
Digital TV posted revenue of Rs 763 crore with a customer base of 15.7 million. Additionally, IPTV services, which was rolled out last quarter, continued to gain traction with customer response, adding 0.65 million customers.
Bharti Airtel Q1: Update on Africa business
Bharti Airtel posted revenue growth of 24.9 per cent (in constant currency) for the Africa business. EBITDA margin (in constant currency) stood at 48.1 per cent, up 292 bps YoY.
Meanwhile, the customer base came in at 169 million at the end of the quarter. The Africa business posted capex for the period at Rs 1,034 crore.