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Bharti Airtel’s Q1 was a tale of two trends, strong year-on-year growth, but a sharp sequential slowdown.
The telco reported a 43% jump in profit compared to last year, buoyed by continued user growth and the carryover impact of last year’s tariff hikes. But on a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit dropped over 46% to ₹5,648 crore, down from ₹11,022 crore in Q4 FY25.
By the numbers:
- Revenue: ₹49,462 crore, up 3.3% QoQ
- ARPU: ₹250, up 18.5% YoY from ₹211
ARPU measures average revenue per user, helping telecoms assess profitability, pricing effectiveness, customer value, and business performance.
Smartphone data users also saw a healthy bump, rising 21.3 million YoY and now accounting for 77% of the mobile base. Airtel’s high ARPU reflects its focus on quality subscribers and premium pricing.
Zoom out: the Airtel–Jio faceoff continues to heat up. Airtel leads on ARPU, while Jio is pushing ahead on scale, adding 9.9 million users, clocking ₹7,110 crore in profit, and crossing 212 million 5G subscribers.
With both players gunning for supremacy across pricing, rollout, and digital dominance, the battle for India’s telecom future is just getting started.
