Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom operator, is likely to beat Airtel in the ARPU (average revenue per user) growth rate in Q1 FY26 (or simply, quarter ending June 2025). Jio's ARPU won't go beyond Airtel's figures, but the quarterly growth rate would be higher for the telco. This is largely driven by the higher FWA (fixed wireless access) additions during the quarter for Jio and also because the effect of tariff hike is still take place for the Reliance owned telecom operator.
Read More - Jio Leads Active Subscriber Gains in the Industry in May 2025
Jio had many users who were on yearly plans and didn't recharge with the new higher tariffs for a long time. These users would be recharging with the higher tariffs for the first time during this quarter. For Airtel, the maximum or almost all the effects of tariff hikes has already come. Thus, the ARPU growth rate for Jio during Q1 FY26 is expected to be more than Airtel.
According to the estimates from JM Financial, Jio's ARPU is expected to grow 1.8% QoQ to Rs 210 during the June quarter. Meanwhile Airtel's ARPU is expected to grow by 1.6% only, to Rs 249. While Airtel's ARPU is higher, it has likely achieved a saturation point with respect to gains from the mobile tariff hikes.
Read More - Jio Could be One of the Biggest FWA Provider Globally Soon
Vodafone Idea is also expected to see similar ARPU gains of about 1.6% QoQ, the analyst said. Vodafone Idea is upgrading its mobile networks fast and is trying to add high paying 4G and 5G users to its portfolio. The issue with Vi's ARPU is that the telco's customer base comprises of millions of 2G users. This coupled with the inferior networks compared to the competition has held the telco back from boosting its ARPU. However, things could change soon as Vi has upgraded its networks quickly in the recent past and is looking to doo it further for the next two years.
