Vodafone Idea (Vi) reported steady revenue growth, rising ARPU, expanding 4G and 5G subscriber adoption, and accelerated investments in broadband infrastructure, AI platforms, and digital services during FY26 as the telecom operator intensified its network expansion and digital transformation strategy across India.
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Vodafone Idea posted Q4FY26 revenue of Rs 11,332 crore, representing 2.9 percent year-on-year growth, while EBITDA increased 4.9 percent to Rs 4,889 crore with EBITDA margin improving to 43.1 percent from 42.3 percent a year earlier. Full-year FY26 revenue rose 3 percent to Rs 44,873 crore, while annual EBITDA climbed 4.8 percent to Rs 19,003 crore. Opex for Q4FY26 stood at Rs 6,443 crore.
The telecom operator delivered one of the strongest ARPU improvements in the Indian telecom industry. Blended ARPU increased to Rs 174 in Q4FY26 from $164 in Q4FY25, while customer ARPU excluding M2M connections rose to Rs 190 from Rs 175, primarily supported by customer upgrades and increasing data usage.
Vodafone Idea ended March 2026 with 192.8 million subscribers, including 135 million data subscribers and 128.9 million 4G/5G subscribers. Postpaid subscribers increased to 30.1 million from 25.6 million a year earlier. Average monthly data usage by 4G/5G subscribers surged to 20.2 GB from 15.9 GB, highlighting growing internet consumption and digital adoption across the network.
The company significantly accelerated Capex investments in network infrastructure and broadband expansion during FY26. Vodafone Idea’s total unique towers increased to 206,981 from 195,284 a year earlier, while total unique broadband towers rose to 202,008 from 184,644. Total broadband sites expanded sharply to 566,376 from 494,596, reflecting Vi’s focus on strengthening high-speed internet connectivity and enhancing customer experience.
Vodafone Idea also expanded population coverage across India. Its 4G coverage increased to 414,573 census towns and villages with 86.3 percent population coverage, compared to 82.7 percent a year earlier. The operator’s 2G network continues to cover 487,173 census towns and villages, reaching 91.3 percent of India’s population.
5G rollout remained a major investment priority for Vodafone Idea. Since launching Vi 5G services in Mumbai in March 2025, the telecom operator expanded 5G services to all 17 priority circles, which contribute nearly 99 percent of company revenue. Vi’s 5G footprint now covers more than 80 cities across India.
The company said its 4G data capacity increased by over 12 percent during FY26 through the addition of new 4G sites and deployment of technologies such as TDD sites, DSR, small cells, and Massive MIMO to improve indoor coverage and network capacity. Vodafone Idea expects 4G population coverage in the 17 priority circles to exceed 95 percent with planned investments.
Vodafone Idea’s spectrum portfolio now totals 8,030.4 MHz across multiple frequency bands, including mid-band 5G spectrum in the 3300 MHz band across 17 priority circles and mmWave spectrum in 16 circles. The company said its strong spectrum portfolio positions it to enhance customer experience, strengthen enterprise offerings, and unlock new business opportunities in the 5G era.
AI and digital services are becoming increasingly central to Vodafone Idea’s growth strategy. The company launched an AI-powered recharge assistant on the Vi App that helps subscribers select optimized recharge plans. Under its AI-powered Vi Protect initiative, Vodafone Idea categorized nearly 2 billion calls and SMS messages as suspected spam during the quarter while blocking approximately 250,000 domains flagged as spam to improve customer security.
Vodafone Idea is also scaling its digital ecosystem through platforms such as Vi Movies & TV, Vi Finance, Vi Games, Vi Ads, and Vi Shop. The company’s AI and machine learning-powered Vi Ads platform enables brands and media agencies to run targeted digital advertising campaigns across Vi-owned and partner channels.
In the enterprise segment, Vi Business strengthened its digital transformation offerings across cloud, IoT, cybersecurity, connectivity, and AI-driven networking solutions. The company added around 1.3 Tbps of network capacity across data centers and expanded collaboration with Juniper Networks and HPE to deploy AI-driven, secure, and scalable enterprise networking solutions.
Vodafone Idea also reported improving financial stability during FY26. Debt from banks declined to Rs 726 crore as of March 31, 2026 from Rs 2,326 crore a year earlier, while cash and bank balance increased to Rs 3,715 crore. ICRA upgraded the telecom operator’s credit rating outlook to BBB (Positive) in March 2026.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH