Bharti Airtel shares rise nearly 2%: Here’s what Morgan Stanley said about the firm’s ARPU growth

In a note, Morgan Stanley analysts said the telecom major’s premium valuations are likely to be sustained. They also expect the industry’s recovery phase to continue in the near term.

For the medium term, the global bank sees multiple drivers for organic growth in Bharti Airtel’s average revenue per user (ARPU), lifting it to the mid-single digits. This is expected to drive double-digit growth in the company’s India business. Analysts also see Airtel’s sustainable return ratio improving to over 20%.

Last month, research firm S&P Global had also shared a positive outlook for the telecom giant.

S&P Global Ratings in its report had said it expects the telco's earnings growth will remain robust over the next 24 months, fuelled by Indian operations, subscriber adds and user revenue lift. The outlook for the Indian operations stems from expectations of 2% to 4% of annual subscriber additions and ARPU growth of 6% to 8% in the same period, a fallout of upgrades to higher-priced plans and higher data consumption.

The positive outlook reflects S&P Global Ratings' view that Bharti Airtel's continued deleveraging, and a correspondingly supportive leverage tolerance, could support a higher long-term issuer credit rating over the next 24 months.

S&P Global Ratings believes Bharti Airtel's earnings growth will remain robust over the next 24 months, fuelled by its Indian operations, according to a filing by the Sunil Mittal-led telco.

Bharti Airtel share price

At 11:45 AM, Bharti Airtel shares were trading at ₹2,088.50 apiece on the National Stock Exchange, gaining 0.91%.

In a 6-month period, the telecom major’s shares have jumped 12.5%, while since the beginning of 2025, Airtel shares have rallied over 31%.

Shares of the firm had hit a 52-week high of ₹2,174.50 on November 21, 2025, and a 52-week low of ₹1,559.50 on February 28, 2025.

The company has a total market capitalisation of ₹12.54 lakh crore, according to data on the NSE.

Bharti Airtel Q2 earnings

The country's second-largest telecom services company has reported a net profit of ₹6,792 crore in the second quarter of the current financial year, marking an increase of 26% from ₹3,593 crore in the same period last year.

Its revenue from operations jumped 26% to ₹52,145 crore in the July-September period from ₹41,473 crore a year earlier.

In the second quarter, Bharti Airtel reported an operating profit, or EBITDA, of ₹29,919 crore, with an EBITDA margin at 57.4%.

India business EBITDA came in at ₹23,204 crore, and the EBITDA margin stood at 60%.

Bharti Airtel's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key profitability metric of a telecom company, improved to ₹256 per user per month from ₹233 in the year-ago period.