Airtel Q1 net profit up 37% on India and Africa business growth

Bharti Airtel reported the highest-ever quarterly postpaid subscriber additions in Q1FY27 at net additions of one million

Bharti Airtel reported 37 per cent growth in net profit at ₹8,167 crore for the quarter ended June 2026 (Q1FY27) on the back of subscriber additions and the telco’s continued focus on premiumisation in the mobile segment. Profit, however, missed the consensus estimates of Bloomberg analysts.

Consolidated revenues for Q1FY27 stood at ₹58,539 crore, up 18 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), supported by strong growth across India and Africa operations.

India business revenue came in at ₹41,214 crore, up 9.7 per cent y-o-y. India mobile revenue grew 9.2 per cent y-o-y, supported by strong customer additions and an improvement in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

Airtel’s ARPU increased to ₹264 in Q1FY27 (₹250). In comparison, its rival Reliance Jio’s ARPU stood at ₹215.6 as of June 30.

Bharti Airtel also reported the highest-ever quarterly postpaid subscriber additions in Q1FY27 at net additions of one million, thereby reaching a customer base of 30 million. It was during this quarter that the telco launched Postpaid Fast Lane, a premium-tier 5G postpaid connectivity driven by 5G slicing technology, which attracted fair amount of scrutiny and debate around net neutrality norms.

Smartphone data customers increased by 21.1 million y-o-y and now make up 80 per cent of total mobile customers. Mobile data consumption rose 36 per cent, reaching 34.4 GB per customer per month, Airtel said.

“We delivered yet another quarter of strong performance, supported by the resilience of our diversified portfolio and sharp execution across businesses,” Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice-Chairman, said. “During the quarter, we completed a large and an EPS-accretive share-swap transaction to increase our stake in Airtel Africa to over 79 per cent. This is a strong reflection of our conviction in Africa’s long-term growth potential and the significant opportunities across our businesses.” Our balance sheet remains strong, reflecting disciplined capital allocation and focused investments to future-proof Airtel, he added.

Business growth

Africa Business ended the quarter with a customer base of 189 million and delivered strong revenue growth of 21 per cent in Constant Currency.

Consolidated EBITDA came in at ₹33,599 crore with margin of 57.4 per cent. India EBITDA was at ₹24,781 crore; EBITDA margin was at 60.1 per cent.

“Airtel’s results reflect that its strategy of focusing on premium customers is working, its strategy of getting more or a higher pie of postpaid customers is working,” Faisal Kawoosa, Founder, Techarc, said.

Airtel’s Homes segment also delivered robust revenue growth of 33.2 per cent, supported by continued expansion of the customer base. During the quarter, the company added 4.73 lakh customers, taking the customer base in the segment to 14.7 million. Airtel Business delivered a 12 per cent revenue growth, supported by steady growth in connectivity solutions and sustained strong momentum across digital services portfolio. Digital TV revenues saw marginal 1.4 per cent growth.

Bharti Airtel’s consolidated capex during the reported quarter stood at ₹13,386 crore, of which India capex accounted for ₹9,698 crore. The company’s net debt (excluding lease obligations) declined 35 per cent to ₹81,852 crore (₹1,25,489 crore).

During Q1FY27, Airtel recognised exceptional charge of ₹353 crore on account of provision for in-principle settlement of a commercial dispute in one of the group’s subsidiary in Africa.

Published on August 4, 2026