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Informist, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026

 

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--Bharti Airtel: Africa presents meaningful headroom for penetration growth 
--CONTEXT: Comments by Bharti Airtel mgmt in post-earnings analyst concall 
--Bharti Airtel: Airtel Money preparing for London listing in H2 of 2026 
--Bharti Airtel: Believe 12% market share of data centre business low
--Bharti Airtel: Network slicing helping enhance 5G network efficiency 
--Bharti Airtel: Reimagining processes with AI to improve productivity 
--Bharti Airtel: See headroom to continue ARPU growth momentum in medium term 
--Bharti Airtel: Majority capex channeled towards transport infra 
--Bharti Airtel: Nxtra will require funding, to decide invest mode over time 
--Bharti Airtel: Focused on improving customer quality in homes business 
--Bharti Airtel: Expect Africa business to punch above weight ahead 
--Bharti Airtel: Seeing several benefits from foray of Indus Towers in Africa 
--Bharti Hexacom: Capex directed at 5G densification, network modernisation
--CONTEXT: Comments by Bharti Hexacom mgmt in post-earnings analyst concall 
--Bharti Hexacom: Depreciation up Q1 due to one extra day, new service launch

 

By Shakshi Jain and Gunjan Rajput

 

NEW DELHI – Telecommunications major Bharti Airtel Ltd. will continue to step up investments into the Africa business, which is expected to punch above its weight over time, Executive Vice-Chairman Gopal Vittal told analysts in a post-earnings conference call Wednesday. "So today, if you look at the contribution of the Africa business to our portfolio, we expect that the contribution to growth will be substantially higher than the base contribution to the business, which means that the contribution of Africa will keep growing in the overall portfolio," he said.

 

The telecom major sees a significant long-term opportunity in the Africa market given the favorable demographics, low digital penetration, and rising demand for connectivity, financial inclusion, and digital infrastructure. Vittal likened today's Africa to India of a decade ago. "A large, young, and increasingly digital population with meaningful headroom for penetration-led growth," he elaborated.

 

Vittal also affirmed that Airtel Money, the financial services branch of Airtel Africa plc, is preparing for a listing on the London Stock Exchange in the second half of calendar year 2026.  

 

The management also said there were several benefits from the foray of subsidiary Indus Towers Ltd. into the Africa market. Indus Towers presents a viable alternative to existing players in Africa's tower industry, which is characterised by high costs and rentals, among other disadvantageous factors, the management said.

 

According to Group Chief Financial Officer Soumen Ray, the low-cost architecture which has been developed in India is being replicated in Africa, including improvements in construction, digitisation, energy management, observability of tower performance, and so on, from day one. "So it is certainly better for Africa, Airtel Africa, in terms of Opex (operating expenditure) performance, both on rentals, IP (infrastructure provider) keys, as well as possibly even on energy. And the sheer observability which will tell them to get more efficient," Ray said.

 

The telecom tower subsidiary, which has secured licences in Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia, late last month said infrastructure rollouts are expected to commence in the next quarter and scale progressively across markets.

 

On a broader level, a majority of Bharti Airtel's capital expenditure is directed towards building transport infrastructure while the allocation towards 5G standalone is modest. Vittal said the company will rapidly scale up its data centre portfolio over the next few years as it progresses towards the target of building a gigawatt capacity. "Many of those contracts have been stitched up," he said.

 

One of key considerations in the journey towards the 1-GW goal is acquiring the right land parcels in Mumbai, which the company is in the process of finalising, Vittal said. He believes the 12% market share of the data centre business is "clearly low" for the large heft and size of Bharti Airtel.

 

Vittal said Nxtra, the data centre subsidiary, will require funding, hwoever, the source of finacing will be decided over time. "...Obviously there's some equity infusion, but there will also be debt that will be raised at Nxtra. Whether it comes off our balance sheet and goes into Nxtra or it comes from outside, I think that's a decision we need to take over time."

 

Bharti Airtel incurred capital expenditure of INR 133.86 billion in the June quarter, compared with INR 160.66 billion in the trailing quarter. Its India capital expenditure added up to INR 96.98 billion for Apr-Jun, lower than INR 134.88 billion reported for the March quarter.

 

In the homes business, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Shashwat Sharma said the focus was on building a quality customer base. "Over the last couple of quarters, we have drawn important learnings from our FWA (fixed wireless access) expansion. While low entry-level pricing helped attract customers, the outcomes were not consistent with the quality of customers franchise we wanted to get, with a higher churn and weaker continuity in certain cohorts. In addition, rising global inventory and chipset pricing have also challenged FWA economics," he explained. Sharma added that Bharti Airtel has tightened customer acquisition quality, doubled down on improving othe churn, and is driving towards a healthier business outcome.

 

The chief executive sees sufficient headroom for sustaining the average revenue per user growth momentum in the medium term. He maintined that in the long term, repair of the pricing architecture, involving charges for data consumption as a norm, would be required. 

 

Among other areas, the management said the recently-launched fast lane technology leveraging network slicing on 5G is delivering the differentiation on postpaid, which is driving an acceleration of business. "We are investing in upgrading our transport layer and building advanced 5G capabilities. Network slicing is a key enabler of this strategy, which is helping us improve our 5G network efficiency, expand effective capacity, and deliver differentiated experience for our customers."

 

Bharti Airtel is also reimagining its processes with the world of artificial intelligence to enhance productivity, step up the experience, and drive operating leverage.

 

For subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Ltd., the management said capex is directed towards 5G densification and network modernisation, among others. In response to an analyst query, the company attributed the 4.9% sequential rise in depreciation and amortisation expenses for the June quarter to one extra day in the quarter and launch of the internet protocol television services. Under the said services, customers get access to a library of on-demand content from prominent streaming applications, popular television channels, and Wi-Fi service.

 

For the June quarter, Bharti Airtel reported a consolidated net profit of INR 81.67 billion, up nearly 12% sequentially. Its revenues from operations rose 5.7% sequentially to INR 585.39 billion for the three months. At the same time, subsidiary Bharti Hexacom's standalone net profit for the quarter was INR 4.82 billion, up 8% sequentially, and revenue from operations was up 4% on quarter at INR 25.10 billion for Apr-Jun.

 

Wednesday, shares of Bharti Airtel ended at INR 1,978 on the National Stock exchange, up 0.4% from Tuesday.  End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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