Turnaround: ARPU leader, deleveraging
Bharti Airtel is India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider and the second largest mobile operator in Africa. Airtel’s retail portfolio includes high-speed 4G/5G mobile, Wi-Fi (FTTH+ FWA) that promises speeds up to 1 Gbps with convergence across linear and on-demand entertainment, video streaming services, digital payments and financial services. For enterprise customers, Airtel offers a gamut of solutions that includes secure connectivity, cloud and data centre services, cyber security, IoT, and cloud based communication. Within its diversified portfolio, Airtel offers passive infrastructure services through its subsidiary Indus Tower Ltd.
Bharti Airtel Limited operates as a telecommunications company in India and internationally. It operates through the Mobile Services India, Mobile Services Africa, Mobile Services South Asia, Airtel Business, Passive Tower Infrastructure Services, Homes Services, Digital TV Services, and Others segments. The company provides voice and data telecom services through wireless technology including 2G/3G/4G/5G services; passive infrastructure service, including the setup, operation, and maintenance of wireless communication towers; mobile money services; home services covering voice and data communications through fixed-line network, wireless network, and broadband technology for homes; and digital TV services comprising digital broadcasting services under the DTH platform and IPTV services. It also engages in the airtel business that includes MPLS, VoIP, SIP trunking, fixed line voice solutions, communications platform as a service (CPaaS), internet of things (IoT), managed services, enterprise mobility applications, cloud, and cybersecurity, data and voice, network integration, managed services, security, and platform services. In addition, the company offers post-paid, prepaid, roaming, data services, OTT content, and various value-added services, as well as mobile TV, video calls, live-streaming videos, gaming, and high-definition (HD) and 4K content services. The company was formerly known as Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited and changed its name to Bharti Airtel Limited in April 2006. Bharti Airtel Limited was incorporated in 1995 and is headquartered in Gurugram, India.
Key people: Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal (Founder & Executive Chairman) · Mr. Shashwat Sharma (MD, CEO & Director) · Mr. Gopal Krishna Vittal (Executive Vice Chairman) · Mr. Akhil Garg (Chief Financial Officer) · Mr. Rohit Krishan Puri (Deputy GM of Corporate Secretarial, Compliance Officer & Company Secretary) · Mr. Pankaj Tewari (Senior VP & Company Secretary)
Bharti Airtel major competitors are Vodafone Idea, Reliance Industries, Sterlite Tech., Railtel Corp. India, Tata Teleservice(Mah, Advait Energy Trans.. Market Cap of Bharti Airtel is ₹11,40,072 Crs. While the median market cap of its peers are ₹25,928 Crs.
Bharti Airtel seems to be less financially stable compared to its competitors.Altman Z score of Bharti Airtel is 2.8 and is ranked 4 out of its 7 competitors.
Yahoo profile 23 Sept 2026 · Tijori 23 Sept 2026
Latest reported mix as compiled by Tijori from company disclosures; percentages of revenue.
As the company reports them. They can differ from the ratio table on the Financials tab, which uses Tijori's own definitions (for example NIM on average total assets rather than on interest-earning assets); the Cross-check panel there lines both up.
India's second-largest mobile operator (491.8 mn India subscribers, 680.9 mn including Africa at Jun-26) with the highest private-operator ARPU (Rs 264 vs Jio Rs 215.6 and Vi Rs 177 in Q1FY27). Also runs home broadband, DTH, enterprise/data-centre (Nxtra) businesses, consolidates Indus Towers, and owns 79%+ of Airtel Africa (14 countries). India mobile is ~73% of revenue; consolidated EBITDA margin is 57.4% and India margin 60.1%.
TTM P/E 37x on screener; 5-year average P/E not sourced. Computed EV/EBITDA ~9.9x on TTM EBITDA Rs 1,25,139 cr using net debt Rs 81,852 cr (ex-lease, per Q1 release) - a premium to Jio-less listed telecom history but ROCE has risen from single digits (FY22) to 17.6-18% (FY26). EV/EBITDA 9.9x; dividend yield 1.3%.
| Reliance Jio (via Reliance Industries) | Jio is only accessible through RIL's conglomerate (O2C, retail) with a lower ARPU (Rs 215.6 vs Rs 264) and higher data usage; Airtel is a pure-play with higher ARPU, 60% India margin and ~1.3% dividend yield. |
| Vodafone Idea | Vi has Rs 1.93 lakh cr borrowings, negative reserves (Rs -1.44 lakh cr), quarterly loss of Rs 3,754 cr in Q1FY27, ARPU Rs 177 and Government of India as 49.02% holder; FY26 'profit' of Rs 34,552 cr was AGR-relief other income - survival, not compounding. |
| Indus Towers | Indus (P/E 13.9x, 3.7% yield) is cheaper but is a rental annuity with tenancy/Vi-receivable risk and no pricing power; Airtel already consolidates Indus and captures the tariff/ARPU upside Indus does not. |
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.
Telecom — 4.3%: a three-player market that finally prices for return on capital
Indian telecom spent a decade destroying capital; it is now a three-player market in which two players (Jio and Airtel) hold ~80% of revenue and the third is on life support. Airtel's Q1FY27 ARPU rose to ₹264 (+5.6% YoY), the highest in the industry and ₹48 above Jio, with the best postpaid addition in 13 quarters. The next tariff hike — widely expected in H2FY27 or early 2027 at up to 15% — flows almost entirely to EBITDA and free cash flow because the 5G capex cycle has peaked. Vodafone Idea's first positive net adds since the merger (193 mn subscribers) mean the government-backed third player is stabilising, which is good for pricing discipline. Bharti is classified Turnaround because the thesis is still about the return on capital normalising — 21% ROE in FY27E rising to 23% — rather than about steady-state compounding at 43x earnings; the multiple is high because deleveraging, Africa and the Indus consolidation are converting EBITDA into equity value at a faster rate than earnings growth alone.
Reliance Industries gives Jio only as one-third of a conglomerate with refining and retail cycles we do not want to own for this thesis; a Jio Platforms listing would be the way to revisit. Vodafone Idea is an equity option on government forbearance, not a business. Indus Towers (held in the AIFs as Value) is a tenancy annuity whose growth is now capped by consolidation.
| Broadband - Market Share | 34.94 % | as of Jun 26 |
| Mobile Subscribers - Market Share | 37.96 % | as of Jun 26 |