India's Vodafone Idea Q3 loss narrows on higher premium data usage

Bharti Airtel

27/01/2026 15:45

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea VODA.NS reported a narrower fiscal third-quarter loss on Tuesday, helped by higher data consumption and more users upgrading to higher-paying 4G and 5G plans.

The debt-laden telecom operator's consolidated loss after tax narrowed to 52.86 billion rupees ($577.53 million) in the quarter ended December 31, from a loss of 66.09 billion rupees a year earlier.

Vodafone Idea has been investing in its 4G and 5G infrastructure in recent years to improve service quality and stem subscriber losses.

Average revenue per user, a key industry metric, rose 7.3% year-on-year to 186 rupees. The increase followed a 2% rise in 4G and 5G subscribers and a 26.7% jump in average data usage among those users.

     However, Vodafone's ARPU still trails rivals Reliance Jio RELJ.NS's 211.4 rupees and Bharti Airtel's BRTI.NS 256 rupees.

Earlier this month, the government capped Vodafone Idea's long-pending adjusted gross revenue dues at $13.79 million annually over the next six years, easing near-term cash flow pressures.

The company on Tuesday said its AGR dues stood frozen at 876.95 billion rupees as of December 31, adding that the amount remains subject to reassessment.

India's third-largest telecom provider, 49% owned by the Indian government, was formed in 2018 through a merger between the Indian arm of UK's Vodafone Group VOD.L and Aditya Birla Group's Idea Cellular.

The company has posted losses every quarter since and has ceded market share to market leaders Jio and Airtel, as it struggles with more than $22 billion in debt and a network rollout that lags larger rivals.

Overall revenue rose year-on-year to 113.23 billion rupees, beating analysts' estimates of 112.77 billion rupees.

($1 = 91.5270 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar and Tasim Zahid)

 ((aleefjahan.cs@thomsonreuters.com))