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Airtel Q3 Profit Plunges 55% to Rs 6,630 Crore Amid High Base Effect

Bharti Airtel reported a 55% year-on-year decline in net profit for Q3 FY26, primarily due to a high base effect from an exceptional gain in the same quarter last fiscal. However, the company's total revenue saw a healthy increase of nearly 20% during the quarter. The performance was bolstered by growth in India revenue and exceptional constant currency revenue growth in Africa. Key operational metrics like ARPU and data consumption per user also showed sequential improvement.

Key Points: Bharti Airtel Q3 Net Profit Falls 55% to Rs 6,630.5 Crore

  • 55% YoY profit drop to Rs 6,630.5 cr
  • High base from FY24 exceptional gain
  • Revenue up 19.92% to Rs 54,684 cr
  • ARPU improved to Rs 259
2 min read

Bharti Airtel's net profit falls 55 pc to Rs 6,630.5 crore in Q3

Bharti Airtel's Q3 FY26 net profit fell 55% YoY to Rs 6,630.5 crore due to a high base effect from exceptional gains last year, though revenue grew.

"India revenue... increased by 1.4% sequentially. Africa delivered yet another quarter of exceptional performance - Gopal Vittal"

Mumbai, Feb 5

Leading telecom company Bharti Airtel on Thursday reported 55 per cent drop in net profit at Rs 6,630.5 crore for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 on year-on-year basis, compared to Rs 14,781.2 crore in the same period last fiscal.

The decline in profit is attributed to a high base effect from the previous year. In the December quarter of FY24, Airtel had recorded an exceptional gain of Rs 7,545.6 crore.

Additionally, the company's profit was impacted by an additional expense of Rs 256.8 crore due to the new Labour Codes.

On a quarterly basis, the company's profit decreased by 2.3 per cent. In the September quarter of FY26, the company's profit was Rs 6,791.7 crore.

The company's total revenue in the December quarter stood at Rs 54,683.9 crore, a 19.92 per cent increase compared to Rs 45,599 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal year.

The company's total expenses in the December quarter of the current fiscal year were Rs 23,198.8 crore -- compared to Rs 20,532.7 crore in the December quarter of FY25. This represents a 12.98 per cent increase in expenses year-on-year.

"India revenue including passive infrastructure services increased by 1.4 per cent sequentially. Africa delivered yet another quarter of exceptional performance with constant currency revenue growth of 5.8 per cent. One of the reasons for our stepped-up performance in Africa is the deployment of our home-grown digital stack that has sharpened our go to market excellence, the secret sauce of Airtel," said Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman.

Bharti Airtel reported that its average revenue per user (ARPU) reached Rs 259 in the December quarter, up from Rs 256 in September and Rs 245 in December 2024.

In the December quarter, 26,056 million GB of data was consumed on the company's network. This represents a 6.6 per cent increase compared to the 24,446 million GB of data in the September quarter and a 29.2 per cent increase compared to the 20,174 million GB of data in the December quarter of the previous year.

Data consumption per user in the December quarter was 29.8 GB per month. This is 5 per cent higher than the 28.3 GB per month in the September quarter and 21.5 per cent higher than the 24.5 GB in the December quarter of the previous year.

Airtel's employee count decreased on both quarterly and annual basis. In the December quarter of FY26, the company had 24,186 employees. This figure is 205 less than in the September quarter of the current fiscal year and 340 less than in the December quarter of FY25.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rohit P
As a customer, I'm more concerned about service quality and plans. Data consumption is shooting up (29.8 GB per user!), but are the networks ready for this load? Sometimes the speed drops in the evening. Hope they reinvest some profit into infrastructure.
A
Aman W
The employee count keeps going down every quarter. 205 fewer people in just three months? While automation is good, I hope this doesn't mean worse customer service. It's already tough to get a human on the call sometimes. 🤔
S
Sarah B
Interesting to see Africa doing so well with 5.8% growth! Shows Airtel is a truly global Indian brand now. The "home-grown digital stack" mention is key – Indian tech solutions succeeding abroad is always great to hear. 🇮🇳
V
Vikram M
Expenses up 13%, partly due to new Labour Codes. This is a respectful criticism – while protecting workers is vital, compliance costs ultimately get passed on. Hope the balance is right so it doesn't stifle growth or lead to more job cuts.
K
Karthik V
The data numbers are insane! 26,056 million GB in a quarter... that's like every person in India streaming non-stop 😂. Jokes aside, it shows how digital we've become. Airtel's network is handling it, so credit where it's due.

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