Bharti Airtel vs Vodafone Idea: Poring over key financials of telcos 

Bharti Airtel vs Vodafone Idea: Indian telcos such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are in news recently after they disclosed the financial relief post the Bombay High Court striking down the Centre's one-time spectrum charge (OTSC) demands on telecom operators. The combined financial benefit for the two stands at over Rs 24,000 crore, according to reports. 

The development brings into focus the financials of both telcos operating in India. Bharti Airtel is the second-largest Indian telco lagging behind Reliance Jio. However, Airtel in April 2026 became world's second-largest telecom operator with 650 million users. The telco also has a major subscriber base in Africa . 

Airtel's India user base increased 13.7% year-on-year to over 48.2 crore as of March 31, 2026 lagging behind only Jio's 52.44 crore. Vodafone Idea's customer base came at 19.28 crore at the end of FY26 with positive monthly net additions starting in February 2026.

In terms of earnings, Airtel reported a 34% fall in net profit at Rs 7,325 crore in Q4 against a consolidated net profit of Rs 11,021 crore in the year-ago period. Consolidated revenue for Q4FY26 rose 16% to Rs 55,383 crore in Q4 against Rs 47,876 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue from the Africa unit rose 40.9% to Rs 16030 crore in Q4.On the other hand, Vodafone Idea swinged back to profit at Rs 51,970 crore in the last quarter against a loss of Rs 7,166 crore a year earlier. The telco posted profit after a one-time accounting gain arising from the reassessment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues and recognition of the present value of future payments. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Vodafone Idea came at Rs 174 in Q4FY26.   

Airtel also has an edge over Vodafone India in terms of operations. While Airtel operates across 15 countries, including India and Africa, Vodafone Idea operates only in India across 22 telecom circles. 

The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led telco's diversified business model is a key differentiator when compared to Vodafone Idea's only mobile focus. 

Apart from the earnings, here's a look at key financials of the two telcos which can help investors to take rationale decisions. 

According to Bloomberg Data, net debt of Airtel stood at Rs 1,67,990 crore against Rs 192530 crore at the end of FY26. On the other hand, cash and cash equivalents came at Rs 13,720 crore for Airtel and Rs 5730 crore for Vodafone Idea in the last fiscal. 

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) at the end of Q4 came at Rs 257 for Airtel and the same metric stood at Rs 174 for Vodafone Idea. 

Capital expenditure (trailing twelve months or TTM) stood at Rs 45,180 crore for Airtel where as for VIL, the same metric stood at Rs 0, according to Bloomberg data. 

Bharti Airtel’s total consolidated revenue for FY26 crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore milestone for the first time to reach Rs 2,10,973 crore. This amounts to a robust 22% year-on-year (YoY) growth.  Vodafone Idea's revenue for FY26 stood at Rs 44,873 crore. This represents a year-on-year growth of roughly 3.0% compared to the Rs 43,571 crore reported in FY25.

Bharti Airtel reported a consolidated EBITDA of Rs 1,21,268 crore in the last fiscal rising 15.5% year-on-year compared to the previous year, with EBITDA margin rising significantly to 57.5%.

Vodafone Idea reported a FY26 consolidated EBITDA of Rs 19,003 crore, rising 4.8% compared to Rs 18,127 crore in FY25.