Bharti Airtel net profit rises 24% to ₹10,710 crore in September quarter

Consolidated revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by 16.7% to ₹60,877.5 crore during the reported quarter from ₹52,145.4 crore in the same quarter of the last year. File | Photo Credit: Reuters Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday (November 5, 2026) reported a 24% increase in consolidated profit to ₹10,710 crore in the second quarter ended September 2026, citing higher per-user revenue after a rejig in mobile phone tariffs. The company had a profit of ₹8,651 crore in the same period a year ago, according to a regulatory filing.Consolidated revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by 16.7% to ₹60,877.5 crore during the reported quarter from ₹52,145.4 crore in the same quarter of the last year. Bharti Airtel's India revenue grew by 9.4% to ₹42,308 crore.“India mobile service revenue increased by 10.1% YoY, driven by strong customer additions and improved realisation, with Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) expanding to ₹271 in Q2 FY27 from ₹256 in Q2 FY26,” the company said.Bharti Airtel Executive vice-chairman Gopal Vittal said Africa delivered a standout quarter with 6.7% QoQ constant currency revenue growth.He said Africa's improving performance is also benefiting from the rollout of Airtel's homegrown technology stack across markets, powering our go-to-market capabilities."India business recorded strong revenue growth of 2.7% sequentially. India mobile delivered revenue growth of 3.4% QoQ, backed by our strategy of portfolio premiumisation and winning quality customers," Mr. Vittal said.Bharti Airtel recorded an 11% increase in global customer base to 69.25 crore during the reported quarter from 62.35 crore in the year-ago period.Airtel's India customer base increased by about 11% to 49.86 crore. The company's mobile customer base grew by 3.6% to 37.72 crore while home service, which includes fixed line broadband services, grew by about 29% to 1.53 crore.Mobile data usage per customer on Airtel's network grew by 28.8% to 36.5 GB in the September 2026 quarter from 28.3 GB a year ago. Mr. Vittal said Airtel's postpaid momentum remained strong with record high net customer additions of 12 lakh."We added 2.9 million (29 lakh) smartphone data customers with continued improvement of our industry-leading ARPU at ₹271," Mr. Vittal said.Airtel said strategic focus on strengthening its portfolio proposition led to exceptional performance in the postpaid segment, resulting in record net additions of 12 lakh, taking total base to 3.12 crore. The smartphone data customer base expanded by 1.88 crore over the past year.Airtel's consolidated capex for the quarter stood at ₹12,467 crore, including India capex of ₹9,908 crore during the reported quarter."We continue to strengthen our digital infrastructure and deployed 497 towers and 11,684 mobile broadband base stations during the quarter. Over the past year, network expansion included 5,649 towers and 44,718 km of fiber, significantly enhancing coverage, capacity, and resilience," the company said.In addition, the company said that it has invested ₹2,826 crore in a strategic land parcel for data centre expansion in India.The net debt of the company declined by about 14% to ₹1.66 lakh crore from ₹1.94 lakh crore on a year-over-year basis. Published - November 05, 2026 11:04 pm IST