Bharti Airtel Rises 2% as Nomura Raises Target to ₹2,355

Bharti Airtel shares rose 1.66% to ₹1,871.70 after Nomura raised its target price from ₹2,220 to ₹2,355 implying 28% upside while maintaining a Buy rating. Nomura expects 14% EBITDA and free cash flow CAGR between FY26-FY29 driven by an anticipated tariff hike in Q3 FY27. Three key drivers. First a tariff hike expected in Q3 FY27 Airtel has consistently raised prices ahead of competitors and each hike directly flows to margins. Second subscriber premiumisation Airtel is shedding low value users and adding high-ARPU 4G and 5G customers improving revenue quality without adding proportional costs. Third beyond telecom growth opportunities in data centres, Airtel Money, digital lending, cloud services and Indus Towers creating multiple new revenue engines. Free cash flow is the cash a company generates after spending on maintaining and expanding its business. For telecom companies with massive network infrastructure investments FCF is the real measure of financial health not just reported profit. Airtel's 14% FCF CAGR signals the business is becoming increasingly cash generative supporting higher dividends and debt reduction simultaneously. Indian telecom prices are among the lowest globally. After Jio's entry in 2016 prices crashed. Now with only three major players Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea the industry has pricing power again. Every tariff hike goes almost directly to EBITDA since network costs are largely fixed. Nomura's tariff hike expectation in Q3 FY27 is the single biggest near-term catalyst for Airtel. Nomura's bullish call on Airtel with 28% upside taught me that telecom companies with strong subscriber premiumisation, pricing power and expanding beyond core mobile into data centres and fintech deserve premium valuations, making it essential to track ARPU trends, tariff hike timelines and free cash flow generation alongside subscriber numbers for telecom stocks like $BHARTIARTL Bharti Airtel, Jio and $IDEA Vodafone Idea before investing. $TATACOMM