Vodafone Idea on August 14 reported a net loss of Rs 6,608 crore for Q1 FY26, higher than the Rs 6,432 crore loss in Q1 FY25 but narrower than the Rs 7,166 crore loss recorded in Q4 FY25.
Revenue from operations rose 5 percent year-on-year to Rs 11,022.5 crore, with only marginal sequential growth.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) stood at Rs 177 in Q1 FY26, up 15 percent from Rs 154 in the same quarter last year. The company said its bank debt had reduced to Rs 1,930 crore as of June 30, 2025.
"This has been a decisive turnaround quarter. The investments made over the past three quarters to expand our 4G coverage have started yielding results, as reflected in the 90% lower subscriber loss compared to Q2 and Q3 of last financial year, being the lowest subscriber decline since merger. We continue to invest in capex and to support our broader capex plans of Rs. 500–550 billion, we remain engaged with lenders to secure debt financing," said Akshaya Moondra, CEO, Vodafone Idea.
The company’s 5G services are now live in 22 cities across 13 circles, with plans to “systematically” expand coverage in line with rising 5G handset adoption.
"We are encouraged by the momentum across our core business metrics. With a solid foundation in place, we are well-positioned to seize emerging growth opportunities in the industry," Moondra said.
Further 5G expansion to key cities in all 17 circles is targeted by September 2025. In parallel, the company is continuing to grow its high-speed broadband network by adding new 4G sites and upgrading its core and transmission infrastructure. As of June 2025, 4G population coverage had risen to ~84 percent from ~77 percent in March 2024, with 4G data capacity up ~36 percent, driving a ~24 percent improvement in speeds.
"With our planned investments, the 4G population coverage is expected to increase to ~90% of the population," the company said.
During the quarter, Vodafone Idea added over 4,800 unique 4G towers, taking its total broadband site count to around 516,200. The network was further strengthened with ~13,100 Massive MIMO sites and over 12,300 small cells.
"We continued to strengthen the sub-GHz 900 MHz spectrum in the 16 circles, complemented by the deployment of ~9,200 sites and further enhanced through ~8,800 additional installations across 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands — key steps towards enabling faster data speeds and better indoor coverage on Vi GIGAnet," the telco said.
These network investments and customer experience initiatives helped limit subscriber losses to 0.5 million during the quarter — about 90 percent lower than the ~5 million losses recorded in Q2 and Q3 last year, marking the company’s best performance since the merger.
Vodafone Idea’s total subscriber base stood at 197.7 million, with 4G/5G subscribers rising to 127.4 million from 126.7 million a year earlier.
Also read: Our LIVE blog on Q1 updates
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