Bharti Airtel reported a 38.7 percent year-on-year rise in consolidated net income before exceptional items to Rs 7,245 crore for the fourth quarter of FY26, supported by strong momentum in its India operations and steady performance in its Africa business.
According to the company’s earnings release, consolidated revenue for the January-March quarter rose 15.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 55,383 crore, while increasing 2.6 percent sequentially.
Consolidated EBITDA for the quarter stood at Rs 32,038 crore, up 16.9 percent from a year earlier, with EBITDA margin at 57.8 percent.
India remained a key growth driver, with quarterly revenue reaching Rs 39,566 crore, reflecting a 7.7 percent increase compared to the same period last year. The company attributed the growth to continued mobile premiumisation, expansion in the homes segment, and steady performance from Airtel Business.
India mobile revenues rose 8.3 percent year-on-year, supported by higher average revenue per user (ARPU) and growth in smartphone data subscribers. Airtel’s mobile ARPU increased to Rs 257 in Q4 FY26 from Rs 245 in the year-ago quarter.
The company said its smartphone data customer base expanded by 20 million over the past year and by 5.8 million during the quarter, with these users now accounting for 80 percent of its overall mobile customer base.
The homes business maintained strong growth momentum, with revenue rising 37.3 percent year-on-year. Airtel added 1.1 million home customers during the quarter, taking the total customer base to 14.2 million.
Airtel Business posted sequential revenue growth of 2.6 percent, while digital TV revenue declined 2.3 percent compared to the previous year.
To strengthen network infrastructure, the company deployed 2,426 towers and added 16,746 mobile broadband base stations during the quarter. Over the full year, Airtel added 7,883 towers and rolled out 43,290 kilometres of fibre infrastructure.
The company also crossed a major global milestone during the quarter, surpassing 650 million customers worldwide.
Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said the quarter also saw the launch of the company’s telco-grade sovereign cloud, RBI approval through a subsidiary to begin lending operations, and faster expansion of its data centre footprint.
On the balance sheet side, Airtel reported a significant improvement in leverage, with its consolidated net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improving to 1.29 times from 1.86 times a year earlier, supported by stronger cash flows and disciplined capital deployment.
Capital expenditure during the quarter stood at Rs 16,066 crore, with spending directed toward 5G densification, fibre expansion, connected homes, data centres, and enterprise services.
The board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 24 per fully paid-up equity share for FY26.
