Vodafone Idea Loss Narrows to ₹5,524 Crore; Shares Gain 6%

Vodafone Idea (Vi) on Monday reported a narrower net loss for the quarter ended September 30 at ₹5,524 crore, compared to ₹6,608 crore in the previous quarter. According to Motilal Oswal, the decline was primarily due to a 26% quarter-on-quarter drop in interest costs and a one-time settlement with a vendor.

The brokerage believes the vendor in question is Indus Towers. Vi shares were up 5.78% in early trading on Tuesday, reaching ₹10.06 on the BSE at 9:48 am. Meanwhile, Indus Tower's shares were up 0.33% to ₹399.80.

In Q2 FY26, Vodafone Idea’s revenue stood at ₹11,200 crore, up 1.6% quarter-on-quarter and 2% year-on-year. The company reported an EBITDA of ₹4,690 crore, an increase of 1.6% QoQ and 3% YoY—about 2% higher than estimates—driven by better revenue and lower network costs. The EBITDA margin remained stable at 41.8%, improving by 25 basis points from last year.

Vodafone Idea’s average revenue per user (ARPU) rose 1.2% quarter-on-quarter to ₹167, a 7% increase from last year and slightly above estimates. The growth was attributed to an extra day in the quarter and an improved subscriber mix. Customer ARPU, excluding machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, rose 1.6% to ₹180. The company’s total subscriber base stood at 19.67 crore, down by 10 lakh from the previous quarter, in line with expectations. Monthly churn inched up to 4.3%, indicating more users switching networks.

The postpaid subscriber base, including M2M users, increased by 13 lakh to 2.79 crore, mainly driven by 7 lakh new M2M users. Its 4G and 5G subscriber base grew by 4 lakh, while data users fell by 1 lakh. The company is estimated to have lost around 8 lakh regular data users. Wireless revenue grew 0.8% quarter-on-quarter and 2% year-on-year to ₹9,880 crore, supported by modest ARPU growth.

Enterprise revenue rose 7% quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year to ₹1,290 crore, around 5.5% above estimates. Data volume grew 8% during the quarter, aided by the 5G rollout, keeping pace with Bharti Airtel and Jio’s 7% growth. Average data usage per subscriber increased to 18GB per month from 16.7GB, though it remains well below Jio (38.8GB) and Bharti (28.3GB). Voice usage declined by 1%, with average monthly minutes per user dipping slightly to 585—significantly lower than Bharti’s 1,145 and Jio’s 996.

Vodafone Idea’s 5G services have now expanded to 29 cities across 17 priority circles, with plans for further rollouts depending on demand and 5G handset adoption. However, network expansion slowed, with only around 1,300 new towers added compared to 4,600 in the previous quarter. The company’s 4G population coverage rose to around 84% as of September 2025, up from 77% in March. Management aims to extend this to 90% of the population.

Net debt, excluding leases but including accrued interest, increased by ₹5,600 crore to ₹2 lakh crore. Vodafone Idea still owes about ₹2.01 lakh crore to the government in deferred spectrum and AGR dues, though external and bank debt fell to ₹1,540 crore from ₹1,930 crore. Capital expenditure declined to ₹1,750 crore from ₹2,440 crore in the previous quarter.

“We continue to make steady progress towards our strategic intent of delivering superior customer experience. We are focused on increasing our 4G coverage to 90% of the population and expanding our 5G footprint in regions with rising 5G handset adoption,” said Abhijit Kishore, CEO of Vodafone Idea.

After raising around ₹24,000 crore in equity, the company is now in talks with a consortium of banks to secure up to ₹25,000 crore in loans and an additional ₹10,000 crore in non-fund-based facilities. Kishore said the company continues to invest in capital expenditure and is negotiating with lenders to raise debt to support its broader capex plan of ₹50,000–55,000 crore.