Vodafone Idea adds 21,927 new wireless subscribers in February 2026; shares in focus

TRAI stands for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

The wireless subscriber base, which includes mobile and fixed wireless access connections, increased to 127.33 crore at the end of February 2026 from 126.63 crore at the end of January 2026.

Bharti Airtel's net new subscriber addition stood at 50.88 lakh, comprising 48.5 lakh in the wireless or mobile segment and 2.31 lakh in the wireline segment, in February 2026, PTI report said, quoting TRAI data.

Jio net subscriber addition stood at 17.41 lakh, which includes 16.24 lakh new mobile connections and 1.17 lakh wireline connections.

Vodafone Idea: ₹45,000 crore capex plan

Vodafone Idea is planning to invest ₹45,000 crore over the next three years to come back on a growth trajectory, a senior official of the company said in January 2026.

During the company's earnings call for the third quarter of the current fiscal year, Vodafone Idea (Vi) CEO Abhijit Kishore said the company will expand network coverage in 17 out of 22 telecom circles to bring it at par with competitors and try to convert 2G sites in the five circles in the next three years.

"We are going to commit ₹45,000 crore of investment over the next three years in this business, and this is in addition to the ₹18,000 crore that we have already invested over the last six quarters," Kishore said.

He said that the money is going to be invested in the network expansion in an extremely aggressive rollout of the network and the company's strategy of 17 priority markets, 5 rest of the market, and focus on 5G.

"We, over the next 30 months, will cover all the markets in the country, which are urban, and urban, here I'm defining as 20,000-plus population towns with 5G. I also need to bridge the gap on 4G.

"Over the next 12 to 24 months, all the 17 priority markets, which contribute to 99.2 per cent of my revenue, will have absolute parity with the competition," Kishore said.

Vodafone Idea Q3 FY26 earnings

Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea said its consolidated net loss narrowed to ₹5,286 crore in the third quarter ended December 2025 (Q3 FY26).

The company posted a net loss of ₹6,609 crore in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing.

Consolidated revenue from operations remained almost flat at ₹11,323 crore during the latest third quarter compared to ₹11,117 crore a year ago.

The company said its user revenue or ARPU (average revenue per user) rose 7.3% year-on-year to ₹186 in the reported quarter from ₹173 in the quarter ended December 2024, mainly due to customer upgrades.

The total debt of the company stood at ₹2.09 lakh crore, comprising ₹4,424 crore outstanding debt from banks, ₹1.24 lakh crore deferred payment obligation for spectrum, and ₹80,502 crore towards adjusted gross revenue dues.