Airtel raises marketing spend 25% as revenue hits ₹58,539 crore

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Bharti Airtel increased consolidated sales and marketing expenses 24.5% year on year to ₹3,692.9 crore in Q1 FY27, while revenue rose 18.4% to ₹58,539 crore. The faster rise in customer-facing spend signals a push to protect premium growth as India’s telecom market competes for postpaid, smartphone and converged-home users.

The expense was up from ₹2,965.9 crore a year earlier and represented 6.3% of quarterly revenue, against 6% in Q1 FY26. Airtel still expanded consolidated EBITDA 19.3% to ₹33,599 crore and lifted its EBITDA margin to 57.4%, suggesting the additional spending did not derail operating leverage.

Growth was led by customer upgrades and a richer product mix. India mobile revenue increased 9.2%, average revenue per user rose to ₹264 from ₹250, and Airtel added a record one million postpaid customers. Smartphone data users grew by 21.1 million year on year, while Homes revenue climbed 33.2%.

Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said, “India Mobile achieved sequential growth of 3.8%, driven by continued portfolio mix improvement.” He also cited “highest ever customer additions of 1 million” in postpaid, linking the higher commercial intensity to Airtel’s premiumisation strategy rather than a discount-led volume chase.

The spending increase matters because Airtel is selling more than mobile connections. Its growth agenda spans 5G upgrades, postpaid plans, home broadband, content bundles and enterprise services, broadening the customer-acquisition contest. Airtel’s net income before exceptional items rose 35.5% to ₹8,057 crore.

The next test is efficiency: whether marketing expenses keep outpacing revenue, and whether postpaid, broadband and 5G adoption preserve margins as competition and possible tariff changes reshape the market.