Bharti Airtel (BHARTI IN) – Q1FY27 Result Update – India Mobile ARPU momentum remains intact. – BUY
Published on 06 Aug 2026
BHARTI reported consol. Revenue and EBITDA of INR585.4bn and INR333.0bn (PLe: INR562.4bn; BBGe: INR569.0bn), up 5.7% QoQ / 18.4% YoY, driven by strong growth across India and Africa operations. In India Mobile, ARPU of INR264 exceeded our estimate (PLe: INR261), although subscriber additions of 3.3mn were below our expectation (PLe: 4.5mn). Performance across the Home and Enterprise businesses remained steady, with EBITDA growing 2.2% and 5.7% QoQ, respectively. Digital business remained subdued, with EBITDA flat QoQ and down 15.5% YoY. Africa continued to deliver resilient performance. Management remains focused on driving ARPU growth. Homes witnessed moderation in subs additions, with ARPU remaining flat QoQ. BHARTI aims to revive Homes subs growth by improving customer quality. Management reiterated its optimism on Africa's long-term growth opportunity. Maintain BUY with a revised TP of INR2,275 (earlier INR2,226), based on an implied 12.2x FY28E EV/EBITDA for the India business, while additionally incorporating the value of investments in Airtel Africa, Indus Towers and Bharti Hexacom.
