Bharti Airtel subscriber additions fall as Arpu rises

Bharti Airtel Limited ( BHARTIARTL ) reported mobile Arpu of ₹271 in Q2FY27, up 2.7% sequentially. At the same time, net mobile subscriber additions dropped sharply from 3.3 million in Q1FY27 to 0.7 million in Q2FY27. The contrast highlights a key debate for telecom investors: is higher revenue per user more important than subscriber growth? Airtel's decision to withdraw its popular ₹299 prepaid plan in August appears to have improved monetisation, but it may also have reduced its appeal at the entry level. Meanwhile, Reliance Jio retained its ₹299 plan and added 7.7 million subscribers during the quarter. The headline Arpu improvement looks positive, but investors should look deeper. Management indicated that part of the increase came from factors such as an additional day in the quarter and a higher postpaid mix. The tariff impact on Q2 was only partial. The more important test will be Q3, when the reintroduced ₹299 plan and the ₹50 increase across postpaid plans will both have a larger effect on reported numbers. Another area to watch is broadband. Airtel's home broadband base rose 4.7% QoQ to 15.36 million homes, but the company is slowing FWA-led expansion and relying more on fibre deployment. That could moderate near-term subscriber additions even if long-term demand remains healthy. From an investment perspective, the key issue is whether Airtel can maintain Arpu growth without sacrificing customer additions. Strong pricing power supports profitability, but sustained market-share losses could eventually offset some of those gains. The stock's muted performance this year suggests investors are waiting for clearer evidence that both growth and monetisation can advance together. View: Arpu remains strong, but subscriber momentum has weakened. Q3 subscriber trends and Arpu sustainability will be the key indicators to watch.