Summary:
Vodafone Idea posted a steady Q3 FY26 performance, driven by higher ARPU, growth in postpaid users, and continued investment in 4G and 5G expansion. While the overall subscriber base declined due to industry churn, higher-value customers and improved data usage supported ARPU growth, alongside stable usage metrics. Revenue rose modestly year-on-year, EBITDA remained stable, and the company maintained healthy liquidity while sustaining strong capex. Rapid 4G expansion and accelerating 5G rollouts across priority circles underscore Vi’s focus on network strengthening and long-term competitiveness.
Vodafone Idea (Vi) delivered a steady performance in Q3 FY26, supported by improving ARPU, targeted subscriber upgrades, and continued investments in network expansion and 5G deployment.
The company’s total subscriber base stood at 192.9 million, down from 199.8 million in Q3 FY25, reflecting ongoing industry churn. However, postpaid subscribers increased to 28.8 million, highlighting a shift toward higher-value customers. Total data subscribers remained stable at 134.9 million, while 4G/5G users rose to 128.5 million from 126.0 million a year earlier.
Blended ARPU improved to ₹172, and customer ARPU (excluding M2M) grew 7.3 percent year-on-year to ₹186, driven largely by customer upgrades. Blended churn for the quarter was 4.4 percent, marginally higher than in recent quarters.
On the network front, Vi expanded its 4G footprint to 407,515 census towns and villages, covering 85.5 percent of India’s population. Its 2G coverage remained stable at 91.3 percent. The company’s infrastructure continued to scale, with total unique telecom towers reaching 203,555, including 197,692 broadband towers and 548,027 broadband sites.
Usage metrics remained healthy during the quarter. Total voice traffic reached 345 billion minutes, with average monthly usage of 592 minutes per user. Data consumption climbed to 7,559 billion MB, while average 4G/5G usage rose to 19,676 MB per subscriber.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Vodafone Idea reported revenue of ₹11,323 crore, marking a year-on-year increase of 1.9 percent. Reported EBITDA stood at ₹4,816 crore, while cash EBITDA (excluding the impact of Ind AS 116) came in at ₹2,358 crore, slightly lower than ₹2,450 crore in Q3 FY25.
Vi maintained a strong focus on capital investment, with quarterly capex of ₹2,252 crore, taking total capex for 9M FY26 to ₹6,448 crore. Bank debt remained modest at ₹1,126 crore, supplemented by ₹3,300 crore raised through non-convertible debentures. The company ended the quarter with a healthy cash and bank balance of ₹6,963 crore.
5G and 4G Network Expansion
Since launching Vi 5G services in Mumbai in March 2025, the operator has expanded coverage across all 17 priority circles where it holds 5G spectrum, which together account for nearly 99 percent of its revenue. Most recently, Vi rolled out 5G services across all districts of Kerala and is now live in 43 cities spanning all priority circles.
Alongside 5G, Vodafone Idea continues to strengthen its 4G and broadband networks. As of December 2025, 4G population coverage increased to 85.5 percent, up from approximately 77 percent in March 2024. Data capacity expanded by over 43 percent, supporting a 22 percent improvement in 4G speeds. During Q3 FY26, Vi added more than 6,500 new unique 4G towers, taking its total broadband site count to over 548,000. With planned investments, 4G coverage across the 17 priority circles is expected to exceed 95 percent.
