Domestic telecom major Bharti Airtel on Monday reported an 89 per cent on year jump in its consolidated net profit to ₹8,651 crore for the second quarter of the financial year 2026 (Q2FY26), on the back of continued premiumisation in the mobile phone segment and record customer additions in broadband business.
The company had reported a profit of ₹4,153 crore in the same quarter of FY25.
The second-largest domestic telecom company added 5.1 million smartphone subscribers during the quarter, and has overall added 22.2 million smartphone data users in the last 12 months.
The consolidated revenue of the firm for the second quarter came in at ₹52,145 crore.
The average revenue per user (Arpu), a key metric for determining the growth of telecom companies, increased to ₹256 for the quarter under review, up from ₹233 in the same period a year ago.
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The company's domestic business reported revenue of ₹ 38,690 crore, a nearly 23 per cent year-on-year increase, due to premiumisation in the mobile phone segment.
"We delivered another quarter of solid performance, achieving a consolidated revenue of ₹52,145 crore, growing 5.4 per cent sequentially and underscoring the strength of our portfolio. Our India revenue, including Passive Infrastructure Services, increased by 2.9 per cent. Africa delivered another quarter of standout performance with constant currency revenue growth
of 7.1 per cent," the company's vice-chairman and managing director, Gopal Vittal, said.
To support its expanding user base, Bharti Airtel added 2,479 towers and 20,841 mobile broadband base stations in the second quarter period. Overall, in the last 12 months, the company said it had deployed 12,796 new towers and rolled out 44,104 kilometres of fibre.
"Our homes business sustained strong momentum with 951,000 net customer additions and sequential revenue growth of 8.5 per cent. IPTV services continue to gain strong traction, driving our connected homes priority.
Airtel Business reported strong results with 4.3 per cent sequential revenue growth. We saw multiple deal wins across connectivity, IOT (Internet of Things) and security business. Our solid balance sheet is a reflection of disciplined capital allocation, continued deleveraging and sustained operational excellence," Vittal said.
In August this year, Bharti Airtel launched Airtel Cloud, a sovereign cloud offering for a platform-as-a-service model. Apart from the cloud service, the telecom major had also announced an AI-powered software suite for customers, designed to enhance the customer experience, reduce churn, and increase the Arpu for telecom companies. These measures are seen as Bharti Airtel's attempts to increase revenue for non-core businesses, as the Arpu from the leading telecommunications business has remained nearly stagnant despite tariff hikes in the recent quarters.
Bharti Airtel, which operates across 15 countries globally, has more than 600 million users worldwide. Airtel Africa, which is also a key market for the company, reported a 24.2 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue in constant currency terms. Airtel Africa is present in Nigeria, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Kenya, Malawi, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Rwanda.
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