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Bharti Airtel Share Price: Shares of Bharti Airtel rose over 2 per cent in early trade on Tuesday, hitting Rs 2,120 apiece on the BSE, after the telecom major reported a strong set of numbers for the September quarter (Q2 FY26).

The company’s robust performance was driven by growth in high-paying smartphone and postpaid customers, as well as solid results from its Africa operations.

The telecom giant reported a net profit of Rs 8,651 crore, more than doubling from Rs 4,153.4 crore in the same quarter last year.

The strong bottom-line growth was supported by higher operating revenue, cost control, and a one-time gain from its African operations.

Revenue from operations surged 26 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 52,145 crore, compared to Rs 41,473.3 crore in the corresponding period last year.

India revenue, including its share from Indus Towers, grew 22.6 per cent YoY to Rs 38,690 crore, while the Africa business reported a 36 per cent rise in rupee terms to Rs 13,679.5 crore.

The company’s key performance metric, average revenue per user (ARPU), climbed 10 per cent YoY to Rs 256, maintaining its lead over rival Reliance Jio, which reported an ARPU of Rs 211.4 in the same period.

From a financial standpoint, Bharti Airtel’s net debt fell 5 per cent YoY to Rs 1,94,713 crore, while total capital expenditure for the quarter stood at Rs 11,362 crore, with India accounting for Rs 9,643 crore.

Following the results, major global brokerages turned positive on the stock.

CLSA maintained an ‘Accumulate’ rating, raising the target price to Rs 2,285 (up from Rs 2,035), citing strong Q2 results led by India and Africa operations.

Jefferies retained a ‘Buy’ rating and increased its target price to Rs 2,635, seeing up to 27 per cent upside from current levels, highlighting Bharti’s “network of wins” across growth, margins, and free cash flow.

Citi also maintained a ‘Buy’ rating with a target price of Rs 2,225, noting steady performance across India Mobile, Homes, and Business segments.

Bharti Airtel added 5.1 million new smartphone customers and nearly 1 million postpaid subscribers during the quarter, reinforcing its focus on premium users. Data consumption per user rose 26.6 per cent YoY to 28.3 GB per month.

Bharti’s Vice-Chairman and MD, Gopal Vittal, said the company delivered “another quarter of solid performance,” supported by its strong India and Africa businesses.

He noted that Airtel Africa achieved 7.1 per cent revenue growth in constant currency terms, while India mobile revenue grew 2.6 per cent sequentially, driven by continued premiumization.

Anubhav Maurya is a Senior Sub-Editor at Zee Business, focusing on the stock market, personal finance, corporate news, and related sectors.

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