Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel delivered a strong FY26, with consolidated revenue crossing a lifetime high of ₹2,11,000 crores, driven by robust performance in both India and Africa. Consolidated EBITDAaL reached ₹1,08,000 crores, achieving a margin of 51.2%. India EBITDAaL, excluding passive infrastructure, grew approximately 18% to ₹72,500 crores, with its margin improving by 3.1% to 51.7%. Operating free cash flow (EBITDAaL minus capex) was a solid ₹41,500 crores plus, and the net debt to EBITDAaL ratio stood at 1.1.

For Q4 FY26, consolidated revenues were ₹55,400 crores, representing a sequential growth of 2.6%. Africa maintained its growth trajectory, with Q4 constant currency revenue growth at 1.1%. India revenues, excluding passive, reached ₹36,100 crores. Consolidated EBITDAaL margins for the quarter were 52%, an improvement of 20 basis points. The company added 4.7 million customers in Q4, with 5.8 million being smartphone users, and the India mobile ARPU for the quarter was ₹257.

Bharti Airtel is actively pursuing new growth bets in data centers, financial services, and Airtel Cloud. Nxtra, the data center arm, announced a $1 billion fundraise and aims to build 1 gigawatt capacity. Airtel Money Limited received RBI approval to operate as an NBFC, with its loan service provider business growing strongly, achieving a monthly loan disbursement run rate of over ₹550 crores. Airtel Payments Bank recorded an annualized revenue run rate of ₹3400 crores, growing 23% Y-o-Y, with 120 million monthly transacting users. Airtel Cloud secured 24 deals in Q4, demonstrating traction for its telco-grade sovereign cloud offering.

The Board recommended a dividend of ₹24 per share for FY26, a significant increase from ₹16 per share in the previous year, consistent with the company's progressive payout philosophy. A share swap transaction was approved to acquire an additional 16.3% stake in Airtel Africa, a no-cash deal considered value accretive. The company's capital allocation priorities are investing in the core business, deleveraging, and then strategic adjacencies. India capex (excluding passive) for FY26 was ₹31,000 crores, with future capex expected to be in a similar ballpark.

The company aims to accelerate ARPU growth, acknowledging that the current ARPU increase of ₹3 in Q4 was unsatisfactory, partly due to international roaming impacts. Management believes the Indian pricing architecture is 'broken' due to unlimited data plans, capping ARPU at ₹340-₹350. The strategy focuses on postpaid growth, driving differentiation, and expanding the rural network. For home broadband, the company is pivoting back to a 'fiber-first' approach due to rising chipset and memory prices making Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) more expensive, despite FWA's role in expanding reach.

Bharti Hexacom Limited also reported strong FY26 results, with revenue and EBITDAaL growth of 9.4% and 17.9% respectively, and an EBITDAaL margin of 47.6%. Operating free cash flow increased by 27% to ₹2935 crores, and net debt (excluding leases) stood at ₹2000 crores. For Q4, Hexacom's revenues were ₹2414 crores (2.3% sequential growth), with an ARPU of ₹252. The company added 370,000 net customers, including 478,000 smartphone users, and 148,000 home broadband net adds, with homes revenue growing 21% sequentially.

The company noted impacts from the ongoing geopolitical crisis, affecting international roaming, capex due to INR depreciation, and gas supply which in turn affects tower build-outs. Energy price increases also impacted Africa operations. Furthermore, rising prices and supply issues for chipsets and memory are affecting the Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) business, prompting a strategic pivot towards fiber deployment for home broadband to mitigate these pressures.