Kamal Ghorui
Bharti Airtel reported a sharp decline in consolidated net profit for the December 2025 quarter, with earnings falling about 55 per cent year-on-year to Rs 6,630.5 crore, mainly due to higher network operating costs, statutory fees and employee expenses.The company had posted a consolidated profit of Rs 14,781.2 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, according to a regulatory filing.According to PTI, the telecom major continued to see strong revenue momentum even as cost pressures weighed on profitability.Bharti Airtel’s capital expenditure during the quarter rose about 28 per cent to Rs 11,787 crore, compared with around Rs 9,161 crore in the December 2024 quarter. Capital expenditure in India increased 16 per cent to Rs 9,249.5 crore from Rs 7,979.5 crore.The company’s outgo on licence fee and spectrum charges rose about 7 per cent to Rs 3,846 crore from about Rs 3,570 crore a year earlier. Employee expenses climbed 21 per cent to Rs 1,958 crore from Rs 1,608 crore.India’s second-largest telecom operator reported quarterly revenue from operations of Rs 53,982 crore, up 19.6 per cent from Rs 45,129.3 crore in the year-ago period.Revenue from India operations rose to Rs 39,226 crore, registering a 13.2 per cent year-on-year growth. India mobile revenue increased 9.1 per cent, supported by improved realisations and a growing subscriber base.Bharti Airtel’s overall customer base expanded 11.8 per cent to 57.6 crore during the quarter. The India customer base grew 12.6 per cent to 41.38 crore, while the Africa business recorded 10 per cent growth to 17.93 crore users.The company also reported improvement in ARPU (Average Revenue Per User), a key metric for telecom firms. ARPU rose 5.7 per cent to Rs 259 during the quarter, compared with Rs 245 in the year-ago period.Bharti Airtel Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said the quarter reflected continued strength in the company’s operating strategy.“The third quarter marked another strong quarter, with consolidated revenue of Rs 53,982 crore, a growth of 3.5 per cent sequentially, underpinning the company’s strategy of a diversified and resilient portfolio,” Vittal said.“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 homegrown digital stack that has sharpened our go-to-market excellence,” he added.
