Vodafone Idea shares soar over 6%: Here’s what analysts, management said after Q2 earnings

The debt-ridden telecom’s consolidated net loss narrowed to ₹5,524.2 crore for the second quarter of the 2025-26 financial year (Q2FY26), compared to the ₹7,175.9 crore loss it had logged in the year-ago period. In the previous quarter, it had clocked a net loss of ₹6,608 crore, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The country's third-largest telecom service provider witnessed a 2.41% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its revenue from operations, which stood at ₹11,194.7 crore during the quarter under review.

In the September quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal year (Q2FY25), it had clocked a revenue of ₹10,932.2 crore. Sequentially, its revenue increased by 1.6% from ₹11,022 crore in the first quarter of FY26.

At an operational level, it's reported that EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) advanced 2.97% YoY to ₹4,685.1 crore in Q2FY26, as opposed to ₹4,549.8 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.

It's reported EBITDA margin expanded to 41.9%, in contrast to 41.6% on a YoY basis.

The company's customer average revenue per use (ARPU), a key profitability metric for telcos, stood at ₹180 for the second quarter of FY26, marking an 8.7% YoY growth from ₹166 crore in the year-ago period, bolstered primarily by customer upgrades and tariff increases.

While an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) due to a tariff hike helped VIL improve its financial performance, the company continues to record a dip in its subscriber base, both on a quarterly and year-over-year (YoY) basis.

By the end of the reporting quarter, its total subscriber base stood at 196.7 million, with a 4G/5G subscriber base of 127.8 million, compared to 125.9 million in the September quarter of FY25.

As of September 30, 2025, Vodafone Idea’s debt from banks was at ₹1,530 crore, and the cash and bank balance stood at ₹3,080 crore.

Further, in its financial performance note, Vodafone Idea mentioned that its ability to settle debt liability is dependent on government support, fundraising and cash flow generation from operations. The government holds a 49% stake in the company.

The company said it welcomes the Supreme Court’s judgements dated October 27 and November 3, 2025, allowing the Union of India to reconsider and take an appropriate decision on the additional adjusted gross revenue (AGR) demand raised for the period up to FY2016-17.

“We are in discussion with the DoT for the next steps on this matter,” the company added in response to the recent Supreme Court verdict on AGR.

Here’s what the management said

Commenting on the earnings, Abhijit Kishore, CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, said: “We continue to make steady progress towards our strategic intent of delivering superior customer experience. We expanded our 4G coverage to over 84% of the population and completed the 5G rollout in all 17 circles where we hold 5G spectrum."

"The growth of ~21% in data volume reflects our ability to retain and engage customers through our differentiated prepaid and postpaid offerings. We are focused on increasing our 4G coverage to 90% of the population and expanding our 5G footprint in the geographies with growing 5G handset adoption. We remain engaged with lenders to secure debt financing to support our broader capex plans of ₹500–550 billion,” Kishore added.

Vodafone Idea share price

At 10:10 AM, shares of Vodafone Idea were trading at ₹10 apiece on NSE, gaining 5.26%.

Over the last five trading sessions, the stock has gained 7%, while in the past month it has risen more than 14%.

In the last six months, Vodafone Idea shares have surged 41%, and since the beginning of 2025, the stock has advanced 25%.

Shares of the firm had touched their one-year high of ₹10.57 apiece on October 27, 2025, while their 52-week low of ₹6.12 was hit on August 14, 2025.

Here’s what analysts said after earnings

According to UBS, Vodafone Idea’s net loss of ₹5,560 crore came in lower than its estimated loss of ₹6,700 crore (consensus: ₹6,600 crore), primarily due to lower-than-expected interest charges.

Analysts at the firm said it will watch for management commentary on ongoing capex and network deployment, progress on 5G service launches, updates on planned debt raising, developments on relief measures related to AGR and spectrum, and the overall near- to medium-term outlook.

Further, analysts at Citi noted that delays in debt raising led to a 28% sequential decline in Q2 capex. In a note, Citi said the recent Supreme Court clarification allowing the government to reassess and reconcile all past AGR dues up to FY2017, including interest and penalties, could help Vodafone Idea finalise its pending debt raise.

It added that progress on this front, along with details of the government’s relief package, will remain a key monitorable in the near term.