Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported a strong set of audited consolidated results for the quarter ended December 31, 2025, with revenue growth driven by robust performance in its India and Africa operations, higher average revenue per user (ARPU), and continued momentum across its Homes and digital services businesses. The telecom firm reported a consolidated net profit before exceptional items of ₹6,920 crore for the quarter ended December 31, up 25.5% year-on-year. 

Consolidated revenues for the December quarter

Consolidated revenues for the December quarter (Q3FY26) stood at ₹53,982 crore, registering a year-on-year growth of 19.6% and a sequential rise of 3.5%. Consolidated EBITDA rose 25.2% year-on-year to ₹31,144 crore, with EBITDA margins improving to 57.7%. 

Bharti Airtel’s net profit (after exceptional items) declined 55% year-on-year to ₹6,630.5 crore in the December quarter. The sharp fall was largely due to a high base in the year-ago period, when the company recorded a significant exceptional gain following the reclassification of Indus Towers from an associate to a subsidiary. 

Revenues from India market

India revenues during the quarter came in at ₹39,226 crore, up 13.2% year-on-year and 1.4% sequentially. India mobile revenues grew 9.1% year-on-year, supported by improved customer mix and higher realisations. The company reported an industry-leading ARPU of ₹259, compared with ₹245 in the year-ago quarter. 

Airtel strengthened its position in the postpaid segment, adding 0.62 million customers during the quarter to take the total base to 28.1 million. Smartphone data customers increased by 20.8 million over the past year, reflecting a 7.7% year-on-year rise. Network expansion continued, with 1,147 towers and 16,338 mobile broadband base stations deployed in the quarter. Over the last nine months, Airtel added 5,457 towers and laid around 30,000 kilometres of fibre. 

Homes segment

The Homes segment delivered strong growth, with revenues rising 32.6% year-on-year. The company added 1.2 million customers during the quarter, taking the total Homes customer base to 13.1 million. Airtel Business revenues increased 1.5% sequentially, supported by demand for cloud, cybersecurity, and digital services. 

During the quarter, Airtel entered into a strategic partnership with Google to set up India’s first artificial intelligence hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. It also secured a multi-year cybersecurity contract from the Indian Railway Security Operations Centre and partnered with IBM to strengthen its Airtel Cloud offerings for enterprise customers. 

Digital TV

Digital TV revenues stood at ₹755 crore, with a customer base of 15.4 million. Consolidated net profit before exceptional items came in at ₹6,920 crore, while consolidated EBIT rose 34.5% year-on-year to ₹17,654 crore. The company’s net debt-to-EBITDA ratio improved to 1.47 times, reflecting continued deleveraging. 

Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said Airtel’s diversified portfolio, strong cash generation, and improving balance sheet position it well to invest in future growth opportunities. “India revenue, including passive infrastructure services increased by 1.4% sequentially. Africa delivered yet another quarter of exceptional performance with constant currency revenue growth of 5.8%. One of the reasons for our stepped-up performance in Africa is the deployment of our home-grown digital stack that has sharpened our go-to market excellence, the secret sauce of Airtel. India mobile recorded sequential growth of 1.9%, driven by our focus on winning with quality customers and a consistently improving portfolio mix. We added 4.4 million customers with an industry-leading ARPU of ₹259,” Vittal said.