Bharti Airtel Ltd reported a 34% decline in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 2026 at ₹7,325 crore, compared with ₹11,021 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Despite the drop in profit, the telecom major posted strong revenue growth, with consolidated revenues rising 15.7% year-on-year to ₹55,383 crore from ₹47,858 crore, driven by robust performance in both India and Africa operations.
Consolidated EBITDA for the quarter stood at ₹32,038 crore, registering a growth of 19.5% over ₹26,815 crore in the year-ago period. EBITDA margin improved to 57.8%.
For the full year FY26, consolidated revenue stood at ₹2.1 lakh crore, marking a growth of around 23.5% compared with ₹1.7 lakh crore in FY25. However, annual PAT declined 20.4% to ₹26,695 crore from ₹33,556 crore.
India business continues steady momentum
India revenues for Q4 FY26 came in at ₹39,566 crore, growing 7.7% year-on-year and 0.9% sequentially.
India mobile revenues increased 8.3% YoY, supported by higher realizations and a growing customer base. Airtel’s Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) improved to ₹257 during the quarter from ₹245 in Q4 FY25.
The company also strengthened its leadership in the postpaid segment with net additions of 0.8 million customers, taking the total postpaid customer base to 29 million.
Smartphone data customers increased by 20 million over the past year, representing a 7.2% annual growth.
Airtel expands digital infrastructure aggressively
During Q4 FY26, Airtel deployed 2,426 towers and 16,746 mobile broadband base stations to strengthen network coverage and capacity.
Over the full year, the company added 7,883 towers and deployed 43,290 kilometres of fibre network infrastructure.
A major milestone during the quarter was Airtel crossing 650 million customers globally, becoming India’s first telecom operator to achieve the landmark and consolidating its position as the world’s second-largest telecom company by customer base.
Homes and data centre businesses shine
The Homes business delivered robust growth, with revenues rising 37.3% year-on-year, aided by strong customer additions. Airtel added 1.1 million customers during the quarter, taking the total home services customer base to 14.2 million.
Meanwhile, Airtel Business reported a 2.6% sequential rise in revenues, supported by sustained growth across segments.
During the quarter, Airtel also announced a US$1 billion investment in Nxtra Data Limited by Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle and Anchorage Capital through their affiliates. Nxtra, Airtel’s data centre subsidiary, plans to use the funds to expand its footprint across India and accelerate growth. Airtel will also participate in the investment round.
Airtel bets big on AI and clean energy
Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Vittal said FY26 marked a significant year in Airtel’s transformation journey.
“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, launched our telco-grade sovereign cloud, received RBI approval through our subsidiary to commence the lending business, and accelerated the expansion of our data centre footprint,” he said.
“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,” Vittal added.
Capex remains elevated for future-ready growth
Capital expenditure during the quarter stood at ₹16,066 crore as Airtel continued investing aggressively in digital infrastructure and emerging growth opportunities.
The company also said it is intensifying efforts with Indus Towers to significantly reduce diesel dependence by transitioning to high-powered batteries and alternate energy sources.