Bharti Hexacom Ltd — Q4 FY26 earnings call
Summary generated by AI from the official transcript Bharti Hexacom Ltd filed with BSE on 20 May 2026. Every statement cites a verbatim quote from that document — open any citation to read it. This is a record of what management said, not a recommendation. How we check these summaries
The short read
Bharti Airtel reported consolidated FY2026 revenue of about Rs.2,11,000 Crores and EBITDAaL of about Rs.1,08,000 Crores with a 51.2% margin, while Bharti Hexacom reported FY2026 revenue and EBITDAaL growth of 9.4% and 17.9% respectively. Management discussed new growth bets in data centers, financial services and cloud, a share swap transaction to raise Airtel's stake in Airtel Africa by 16.3%, and highlighted mobile ARPU growth that fell short of their own expectations. Both companies' boards recommended higher dividends per share compared to the prior year, and management answered analyst questions on capital allocation, ARPU trajectory, capex plans and the Bharti Hexacom-Airtel growth comparison.
Numbers mentioned
Consolidated revenue: about Rs.2,11,000 Crores (FY2026)
p. 3
“Our consolidated revenue crossed another milestone and came in at a lifetime high of about Rs.2,11,000 Crores backed by strong performance in both India and Africa.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
EBITDAaL: about Rs.1,08,000 Crores, margin of 51.2% (FY2026)
p. 3
“EBITDAaL came in at about Rs.1,08,000 Crores with a margin of 51.2%.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
India EBITDAaL excluding passive: about Rs.72,500 Crores, growing around 18%, margin 51.7% (FY2026)
p. 3
“India EBITDAaL excluding passive, came in at about Rs.72,500 Crores, growing around 18% and delivered a 3.1% improvement and stood at 51.7%.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Capex for India excluding passive: around Rs.31,000 Crores (FY2026)
p. 3
“Capex for FY2026 for India excluding passive was around Rs.31,000 Crores.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Operating free cash flow: Rs.41,500 Crores plus (FY2026)
p. 3
“Operating free cash flow, which is EBITDAaL minus capex was a solid Rs.41,500 Crores plus.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Net debt to EBITDAaL: 1.1 (FY2026)
p. 3
“Net debt to EBITDAaL now stands at 1.1.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Dividend per share: Rs.24 per share (FY2026)
p. 3
“The Board recommended a dividend of Rs.24 per share, a significant increase over last year's Rs.16 per share.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Consolidated revenue: about Rs.55,400 Crores, 2.6% sequential growth (Q4 FY2026)
p. 3
“Consolidated revenues came in at about Rs.55,400 Crores, a growth of 2.6% sequentially.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
India revenues excluding passive: about Rs.36,100 Crores (Q4 FY2026)
p. 3
“India revenues excluding passive came in at about Rs.36,100 Crores.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
India EBITDAaL margin: about 52%, up 20 bps (Q4 FY2026)
p. 3
“EBITDAaL margins came in at about 52%, an improvement of 20 basis points.”
Soumen Ray, page 3 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Mobile ARPU: Rs.257 (Q4 FY2026)
p. 4
“Our ARPU for the quarter came in at Rs.257, which on an EDB basis was an increase of Rs.3 for the quarter.”
Shashwat Sharma, page 4 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Mobile net additions: 4.7 million, of which 5.8 million smartphone customers (Q4 FY2026)
p. 4
“We added 4.7 million customers in Q4 and 5.8 million out of those were smartphone customers.”
Shashwat Sharma, page 4 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Homes net additions: 1.1 million (Q4 FY2026)
p. 5
“our net ads came in at 1.1 million while FWA continued to expand the addressable market for us”
Shashwat Sharma, page 5 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Airtel Business revenue: about Rs.5,500 Crores, growing 2.6% sequentially (Q4 FY2026)
p. 5
“Airtel Business revenue came in at about Rs.5,500 Crores, growing 2.6% sequentially.”
Shashwat Sharma, page 5 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Home passes: crossed 45 million (FY2026)
p. 5
“In FY2026, we rolled out upwards of 8 million home passes to cross 45 million home passes and we continue to expand rapidly.”
Shashwat Sharma, page 5 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Airtel Payments Bank annualized revenue run rate: about Rs.3400 Crores, growing 23% Y-o-Y (Q4 FY2026)
p. 4
“Annualized revenue run rate is now about Rs.3400 Crores, growing 23% Y-o-Y.”
Soumen Ray, page 4 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Bharti Hexacom revenue: Rs. 2414 Crores, growing 2.3% sequentially (Q4 FY2026)
p. 13
“we delivered another quarter of strong performance with revenue of Rs. 2414 Crores, growing 2.3% sequentially.”
Soumen Ray, page 13 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Bharti Hexacom EBITDAaL: over Rs. 1155 Crores, margin 47.9% (Q4 FY2026)
p. 13
“EBITDAaL for the quarter came in at over Rs. 1155 Crores with a margin of 47.9%.”
Soumen Ray, page 13 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Bharti Hexacom mobile ARPU: Rs.252 (Q4 FY2026)
p. 13
“ARPU for the quarter was Rs.252, impacted by two days less, whilst on an EDB basis, it would be closer to about Rs. 257 to Rs. 258.”
Soumen Ray, page 13 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Bharti Hexacom homes net additions: 148,000 (Q4 FY2026)
p. 13
“Our homes business continues to see strong momentum with record high net ads of 148,000, driving a revenue growth of about 21% sequentially.”
Soumen Ray, page 13 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Bharti Hexacom dividend per share: Rs.18 per share (FY2026)
p. 13
“The Board recommended a dividend of Rs.18 per share as compared to Rs.10 per share last year, in line with our philosophy of progressive payout.”
Soumen Ray, page 13 of the filed PDF · View the filing
What management said it would do
A record of statements made on the call, in the words management used. Parakho does not forecast, endorse or assess them, and their presence here is not a view on whether they will happen.
Data center capacity — 1 gigawatt · next few years
stated as an aspiration by Soumen Ray
p. 4
“In data centers, we continue to make steady progress against our ambition of building 1 gigawatt capacity over the next few years.”
Soumen Ray, page 4 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Capex — this year
stated conditionally by Gopal Vittal
p. 8
“our sense is that we will be in the ballpark of this year, give or take a little bit.”
Gopal Vittal, page 8 of the filed PDF · View the filing
BTL stake in Bharti Airtel — 51% or just over 50% · next decade
stated as an aspiration by Sunil Bharti Mittal
p. 10
“my own wish is that in the next, it is hard to put in years on it, in the next decade as I, kind of, come to a point where I hand over the reins to the next generation as shareholders, Bharti Telecom should get back to controlling shareholding- 51% or just over 50%.”
Sunil Bharti Mittal, page 10 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Singtel-BTL equalization gap — 3.6% · three to four years
stated conditionally by Sunil Bharti Mittal
p. 10
“So, 3.6% over the next three years or so, let us say, three to four years, so, one, less than 1% a year, gets Singtel onto the equalization path that they stated in the last two years and that brings us to equal state”
Sunil Bharti Mittal, page 10 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Airtel Africa ownership stake — up to 90% · next several years
stated as an aspiration by Sunil Bharti Mittal
p. 12
“Ambition for Airtel should be whatever is allowed to go up to 90%, one day should get there and that is being ably helped by Airtel Africa's own buyback program.”
Sunil Bharti Mittal, page 12 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Total customer base (mobile, home broadband, digital, financial services combined) — 800 million customers
stated as an aspiration by Sunil Bharti Mittal
p. 13
“we will get to a 800 million customers by way of mobile, home broadband, our digital services, our financial services and both between India and Africa, getting to 500 million here and 300 million in Africa is a dream which is visible.”
Sunil Bharti Mittal, page 13 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Financial services capital allocation — Rs. 20,000 Crores over five years, of which Rs.14,000 Crores from Airtel · next five years
stated conditionally by Sunil Bharti Mittal
p. 12
“the total amount that we are looking at allocating in the next five years, we have stated Rs. 20,000 Crores, of which Rs.14,000 Crores has to come from Airtel.”
Sunil Bharti Mittal, page 12 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Bharti Hexacom dividend payout
stated firmly by Soumen Ray
p. 14
“we have been committed that we will be looking at a progressively increasing dividend payout and we continue to remain on that.”
Soumen Ray, page 14 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Edge data centers built out — 56 world class edge data centers · next 18 to 24 months
stated firmly by Gopal Vittal
p. 8
“we are focused right now on building in the next 18 to 24 months- 56 world class edge data centers, which will really stand us in very good stead over the next two to three decades”
Gopal Vittal, page 8 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Q&A highlights
Management's answers to analyst questions, in Parakho's words rather than a transcript. Each row names who answered and carries the verbatim quote it was drawn from.
Gopal Vittal outlined capital allocation priorities: core business investment, deleveraging, and adjacencies like data centers, financial services and cloud, with no current plans for non-India acquisitions.
Answered by Gopal Vittal
Asked by Manish Adukia: How is Airtel thinking about progressive dividend payout in a steady state and are there plans for capital deployment in non-India assets?
p. 7
“For now, yes, absolutely I think we will continue to look at bolt-on acquisitions in the spaces that we have already talked about, whether it is in towers, it is in cloud, it is in cybersecurity, in B2B specifically, so those are areas that we will continue to look at, but if there is anything that is going outside, then at this point in time, there is nothing to talk about.”
Gopal Vittal, page 7 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Gopal Vittal argued the pricing architecture in India is broken relative to global markets and needs repair, particularly for unlimited data plans.
Answered by Gopal Vittal
Asked by Manish Adukia: Is it realistic to expect meaningful tariff hikes given strong free cash flow generation without them?
p. 7
“the fact is that it is the architecture of pricing that fundamentally is broken and needs to be repaired.”
Gopal Vittal, page 7 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Shashwat Sharma said no impact has been seen yet but it cannot be ruled out, while organic ARPU levers like postpaid remain strong.
Answered by Shashwat Sharma
Asked by Ankur Rudra: Will FY2027 see additional ARPU headwinds from smartphone shipment drops?
p. 8
“there is, we have seen some bit of softening of shipments of handsets, etc., and prices going up, so we have not yet seen any impact but we cannot rule it out.”
Shashwat Sharma, page 8 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Gopal Vittal explained the Nxtra model is colocation/tenancy-based, citing the Google Visakhapatnam data center project, and said GPU-as-a-service is not yet being pursued.
Answered by Gopal Vittal
Asked by Aditya Suresh: What is the Nxtra business model - tenancy or GPU rental - and details on the Google partnership?
p. 9
“On the Nxtra side, for us, the model is really around tenancy, this is a colocation model, specifically with Google, they are building a very large AI data center in Visakhapatnam and we are, sort of, building it for them”
Gopal Vittal, page 9 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Soumen Ray said the company is not chasing a target level but will fund core network needs including 5G densification as required.
Answered by Soumen Ray
Asked by Sumangal Nevatia: Is wireless capex near its bottom at around 16% of sales?
p. 9
“if tomorrow we need to do higher 5G densification, we will not shy away, so we are not chasing a target but we will be optimal and prudent in deploying whatever is required”
Soumen Ray, page 9 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Soumen Ray said Hexacom has closed the ARPU gap with Airtel and attributed the lag partly to postpaid penetration and international roaming differentials.
Answered by Soumen Ray
Asked by Sanjesh Jain: Why has Bharti Hexacom's mobile growth lagged Bharti Airtel's this year, and what corrective measures are planned?
p. 14
“we have been able to close the ARPU gap. As I had told earlier also, the postpaid penetration bit and the IR bit will be a little differential”
Soumen Ray, page 14 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Soumen Ray attributed it also to increased adoption of unlimited 5G data packs, which creates a headwind on ARPU.
Answered by Soumen Ray
Asked by Pranav Kshatriya: What caused ARPU growth to stall this quarter beyond international roaming impact?
p. 14
“there is something else which is played out, which is the whole, eat as much as you can on 5G packs, that is the more adoption happens, that will clearly create a headwind.”
Soumen Ray, page 14 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Soumen Ray said the charge reflects a change in interpretation of an existing matter following prudent accounting review, not a new demand.
Answered by Soumen Ray
Asked by Vivekanand Subbaraman: What does the new regulatory charge this quarter pertain to, and is there a new demand from the government?
p. 15
“It is just interpretation of issues as time progresses and various things happen in the ecosystem but nothing new.”
Soumen Ray, page 15 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Risks flagged
Geopolitical crisis impacting international roaming, capex due to INR depreciation, gas supply restrictions affecting tower build-outs, and energy price increases
p. 4
“There are a few areas of our operations, which are seeing impact including international roaming, capex on account of INR depreciation, restriction on gas supply affecting galvanizing industry in turn leading to lower tower build-outs.”
Soumen Ray, page 4 of the filed PDF · View the filing
ARPU increase weaker than expected due to West Asia crisis and international roaming revenue impact
p. 4
“We are not happy with the ARPU increase of Rs.3, part of this issue was linked to West Asia crisis”
Shashwat Sharma, page 4 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Memory and chipset supply and price pressures affecting the homes/FWA business
p. 5
“Given the global environment, there has been challenge on this business with memory and chipset supply as well as prices.”
Shashwat Sharma, page 5 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Cost pressures in server and memory prices and component availability
p. 6
“the cost pressures we are seeing today remain confined to a few specific areas: particularly in servers and memory prices as well as availability of these components.”
Shashwat Sharma, page 6 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Handset price increases potentially slowing smartphone upgrades
p. 8
“handset prices have gone up very sharply in the last few weeks, which we will watch.”
Shashwat Sharma, page 8 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Fixed wireless access costs rising sharply due to chipset and memory prices
p. 11
“The fixed wireless access has now become very much more expensive.”
Gopal Vittal, page 11 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Smartphone upgrade stress affecting Hexacom's ARPU and growth pace versus Airtel
p. 14
“The smartphone upgrade will see a bit of stress and hence, we might lag a little bit because that is a very strong indicator.”
Soumen Ray, page 14 of the filed PDF · View the filing
Lower international roaming and rising handset prices pressuring 2G to 4G upgrades industry-wide
p. 14
“The headwinds that we have are similar to any other player in any other geography, which is lower international roaming, handset prices slightly going up and hence having a pressure on 2G to 4G upgrades”
Soumen Ray, page 14 of the filed PDF · View the filing
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