Bharti Airtel Share Price Trades 1.5% Higher After Q3 FY26 Results

Bharti Airtel Limited, India’s second-largest telecom operator, announced its consolidated results for the quarter ended December 31, 2025 (Q3 FY26), reporting robust revenue growth across India and Africa, even as net profits were impacted by higher operating and spectrum costs.

Bharti Airtel Revenue Growth Driven by India and Africa

Bharti Airtel’s consolidated revenues for Q3 FY26 stood at ₹53,982 crore, marking a 19.6% year-on-year (YoY) growth and a 3.5% increase compared to the previous quarter. The India business contributed ₹39,226 crore, up 13.2% YoY and 1.4% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), driven by premiumisation in the mobile segment, strong momentum in the Homes segment, and steady performance in Airtel Business.

India Mobile revenue grew 9.1% YoY, supported by an improvement in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), which increased to ₹259 from ₹245 in Q3 FY25, and growth in smartphone data customers. The Homes segment delivered exceptional performance, with revenues up 32.6% YoY and record net additions of 1.16 million customers in the quarter, taking the total Homes customer base to 13.1 million.

The Africa business continued its strong trajectory, with revenue in constant currency rising 24.7% YoY. Airtel’s in-house digital stack enhanced go-to-market execution, contributing to improved performance.

Bharti Airtel EBITDA and Profitability

Consolidated EBITDA for Q3 FY26 increased 25.2% YoY to ₹31,144 crore, with a margin of 57.7%. India’s EBITDA reached ₹23,676 crore, with a robust margin of 60.4%. Consolidated EBIT rose 34.5% YoY to ₹17,654 crore, with a margin of 32.7%.

However, despite strong operational performance, consolidated net profit before exceptional items was reported at ₹6,920 crore, reflecting a 55% YoY decline compared to ₹14,781 crore in the same quarter last year. The decline was primarily due to higher network operating costs, employee expenses, and statutory fees, including licence and spectrum charges. Net profit on a QoQ basis declined marginally by 2.4% to ₹6,630.5 crore.

Bharti Airtel Operational Highlights

Bharti Airtel continued to strengthen its customer base and network infrastructure:

• The total consolidated customer base reached ~645 million across 15 countries, with India at 466 million and Africa at 179 million.
• Smartphone data customers increased by 20.8 million YoY, accounting for 79% of total mobile customers.
• Average mobile data consumption per user rose 29.2% YoY to 29.8 GB per month.
• Postpaid net additions remained steady at 0.62 million.
• The company added 1,147 towers and 16,338 mobile broadband base stations during the quarter, and over nine months, deployed 30,000 kilometers of fiber to strengthen digital infrastructure.

The Homes segment continued to shine with record quarterly net additions of 1.16 million, and Digital TV maintained stable revenue at ₹755 crore with 15.4 million customers.

Bharti Airtel Strategic Partnerships and Enterprise Focus

During the quarter, Bharti Airtel forged multiple strategic partnerships to enhance its technology and enterprise offerings:

• Google AI Hub: Airtel partnered with Google to establish India’s first AI hub in Visakhapatnam, accelerating AI adoption across the country.
• IBM Cloud Partnership: Airtel Cloud was strengthened through collaboration with IBM to enable AI workloads for enterprises in regulated industries with high security, interoperability, and multi-cloud capabilities.
• Indian Railways Cybersecurity Contract: Airtel Business secured a multi-year contract to provide comprehensive cybersecurity for the Indian Railways’ IT backbone, benefiting over 1 billion users with enhanced data protection.

Bharti Airtel Capital Expenditure 

Capital expenditure (Capex) rose to ₹11,787 crore in Q3 FY26, reflecting a 28% increase YoY. India’s Capex increased 16% to ₹9,249 crore, while Africa’s Capex stood at ₹2,537 crore. Despite higher spending, Airtel continued deleveraging, with the consolidated Net Debt to EBITDAaL ratio (annualised) improving to 1.02 times, down from 1.98 times in the previous year.

Bharti Airtel Share Price Jumped Over 1.85% After Q3 Results

On Friday, Bharti Airtel share price jumped over 1.5% as the company announced its consolidated results for the quarter ended December 31, 2025 (Q3 FY26), reporting robust revenue growth across India and Africa. As of 01:11 pm the stock price was trading at ₹2,028.40 per share, up by 1.80%