Bharti Airtel Q3 FY26 results: Net profit before exceptional items rises 25.5% YoY to Rs 6,920 crore

Bharti Airtel Q3 Results LIVE: Net profit falls 55% to Rs 6,631 crore, ARPU rises to Rs 259

Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported its seventh straight quarterly rise in profit, as subscribers continued to upgrade to higher-margin telecom plans amid a steady expansion in its customer base.

The telecom major posted a consolidated net profit before exceptional items of Rs 6,920 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2025 (Q3 FY26), up 25.5 percent year-on-year.

Bharti Airtel's net profit (after exceptional items) fell 55 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 6,630.5 crore in the December quarter. The decline was largely due to a high base in the year-ago period, when the company reported a net exceptional gain following the reclassification of Indus Towers from associate to subsidiary.

Profit before tax rose 34.4 percent year-on-year to Rs 12,558 crore, compared with Rs 9,346 crore in the year-ago period. The corresponding quarter last year included a net exceptional gain of Rs 7,550 crore, largely arising from a higher valuation of Airtel’s stake in telecom infrastructure provider Indus Towers.

Consolidated total revenues increased 19.6 percent YoY to Rs 53,982 crore during the quarter, according to the company’s stock exchange filing.

EBITDA grew 25.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 31,144 crore, while the EBITDA margin improved to 57.7 percent from 55.1 percent a year earlier. On a sequential basis, EBITDA rose 4.1 percent, with margins expanding by 30 basis points. EBIT for the quarter stood at Rs 17,654 crore, up 34.5 percent YoY, with the EBIT margin improving to 32.7 percent.

India Q3 FY26 revenues were Rs 39,226 crore, up 13.2 percent YoY and 1.4 percent QoQ. India mobile revenue recorded a YoY increase of 9.1 percent, supported by higher ARPI and continued growth in smartphone data customers.

The company maintained robust ARPU growth, reporting an Average Revenue Per User of Rs 259 for the quarter, compared with Rs 245 in Q3 FY25.

Bharti Airtel said its overall customer base stood at around 645 million across 15 countries as of the end of the December quarter. The India customer base reached 466 million in the December quarter, up from 450 million in the previous quarter.

For India, Airtel reported postpaid net additions of 0.62 million customers, taking the total postpaid customer base to 28.1 million. Smartphone data customers increased by 20.8 million over the last year, marking a 7.7 percent YoY rise. Smartphone data customers now account for 79% of total mobile customers.

For the Airtel Africa business, customer base reached to 179 million, while revenue in constant currency jumped nearly 25% YoY.

Airtel Africa EBITDA margin for the business (in constant currency) stood at 49.3%, up 234 bps YoY.

"Our balance sheet strength, reinforced by strong cash generation and sustained deleveraging, positions us well to invest in new growth opportunities," said Gopal Vittal, executive vice chairman of Bharti Airtel, in a statement. "India mobile recorded sequential growth of 1.9 percent, driven by our focus on winning with quality customers and a consistently improving portfolio mix."

Consolidated capital expenditure during the quarter stood at Rs 11,787 crore. Of this, India capex was Rs 9,249 crore, while Africa capex for the quarter was Rs 2,537 crore.

During the quarter, 1,147 towers and 16,338 mobile broadband base stations were deployed. Over the last nine months, the company added 5,457 towers and deployed approximately 30,000 kilometres of fiber to strengthen its digital infrastructure.

The Homes segment delivered revenue growth of 32.6 percent YoY, supported by sustained improvement in customer acquisitions. During the quarter, 1.2 million customers were added, taking the total customer base to 13.1 million.

Airtel Business revenue increased 1.5 percent sequentially. Digital TV achieved revenues of Rs 755 crore. The total customer base stands at 15.4 million.