Vodafone Idea narrows Q3 loss to Rs 5,286 crore; ARPU, EBITDA improve

vodafone idea

• Vodafone Idea's Q3 loss reduced to Rs 5,286 crore, revenue up to Rs 11,323 crore.
• ARPU grew 7.3% year-on-year; 4G/5G subscribers reached 128.5 million
• AGR dues frozen at Rs 87,695 crore, new repayment schedule set by DoT

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Telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd (Vi) reported a marginal narrowing of its net loss to Rs 5,286 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, compared with a loss of Rs 6,609 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Revenue from operations rose to Rs 11,323 crore in Q3FY26, up from Rs 11,117 crore in Q3FY25. EBITDA improved to Rs 4,816 crore from Rs 4,712 crore a year ago.

Customer ARPU (excluding M2M) increased to Rs 186 from Rs 173 in the year-ago quarter, reflecting a 7.3% year-on-year growth.

Vi’s total subscriber base stood at 192.9 million. The company ended the quarter with 128.5 million 4G/5G subscribers, up from 126 million in the same period last year. Average data usage among 4G/5G subscribers rose 26.7% year-on-year to 19.2 GB per month.

During the quarter, Vi expanded its 4G coverage by 100 million people, taking total coverage to 85.5% of the population. 4G data capacity increased by over 43%, while speeds improved by around 22% compared to March 2024 levels.

Abhijit Kishore, CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, said the quarter marked an inflexion point for the company, citing the resolution of key legacy issues. “We are thankful to the Government for offering a definitive, long-term and conclusive solution on the AGR matter,” he said.

The company also concluded the settlement of CLAM receivables worth Rs 6,394 crore with the Vodafone Group. One of the key milestones during the quarter was the successful raising of Rs 3,300 crore through non-convertible debentures (NCDs), despite the AGR overhang, reflecting lender confidence in the company’s turnaround prospects.“These developments have strengthened the trajectory of our debt discussions, enabling us to execute our larger capex plan to strengthen the network and further elevate customer experience. Operationally, our market initiatives translated into deeper customer engagement, with ARPU and data consumption improving sequentially,” Kishore added.

Capital expenditure stood at Rs 2,252 crore for the quarter and Rs 6,448 crore for the first nine months of FY26.

As of December 31, 2025, the company’s AGR liability stood at Rs 80,502 crore, originally scheduled to be repaid in six equal instalments beginning March 31, 2026.

On January 8, 2026, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) informed the company that its AGR dues — including principal, interest, penalty and interest on penalty — for the period from FY2006-07 to FY2018-19, as of December 31, 2025, would be frozen and repaid under a revised framework.

Under the new schedule, the company will pay up to Rs 124 crore annually over six years from March 2026 to March 2031, followed by annual payments of Rs 100 crore over the next four years from March 2032 to March 2035. The remaining reassessed AGR dues, without any further interest, will be cleared in equal annual instalments over six years from March 2036 to March 2041.

The DoT will set up a committee to reassess the AGR dues, and its decision will be final and binding on the company, which has given an undertaking to that effect. In a separate communication issued the same day, the DoT confirmed that the AGR dues frozen as of December 31, 2025, amount to Rs 87,695 crore, subject to reassessment.