India's Vodafone Idea narrows quarterly loss on bigger per-user revenue (updated)

Vodafone Idea

10/08/2026 15:25

Adds details and background
Aug 10 (Reuters) - Vodafone Idea VODA.NS, India's third-largest telecom operator, reported a narrower first-quarter loss on Monday, driven by higher average revenue per user (ARPU) amid more users migrating to higher-value 4G and 5G services.
The debt-laden company's consolidated loss after tax narrowed to 37.54 billion rupees ($393.91 million) in the quarter ended June 30, from 66.08 billion rupees last year.
Vodafone Idea has been ramping up investments in its 4G and 5G network after securing fresh promoter funding and government relief on its telecom dues, aiming to narrow the gap with larger rivals Reliance Jio RELJ.NS and Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS.
After years of ceding market share to rivals amid under-investment, Vodafone Idea had said sustained network investments had begun to slow subscriber losses, with monthly subscriber additions turning positive from February 2026.
The wireless carrier's user base rose to 193.1 million from 192.8 million in the previous quarter - marking its first quarter of positive net subscriber addition since the merger of Vodafone India with Idea.
The company's ARPU – a key telecom metric – rose 10.2% year-on-year to 195 rupees, driven by a 2.1% increase in its 4G and 5G user base, though the metric remained the lowest among its peers.
Jio and Airtel previously posted a 7% and 37% rise in their quarterly profits, respectively, aided by higher ARPU.
Vodafone Idea, 49%-owned by the Indian government, was formed in 2018 through a merger between the Indian arm of the UK's Vodafone Group VOD.L and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular. It has largely remained loss-making since, while also carrying a heavy debt burden.

        The company's overall revenue rose about 6% to 116.89 billion rupees, above analysts' average estimate of 114.86 billion rupees.
Vodafone Idea's total expenses dropped 3% to 172.42 billion rupees.  
     
($1 = 95.3000 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Shailesh Kuber)
 ((aleefjahan.cs@thomsonreuters.com))