Source: Mint
Mumbai, August 14, 2025 – Shares of Vodafone Idea dropped sharply in early trade on Thursday, falling to another new 52-week low just ahead of the company’s results for the first quarter of FY26. The stock declined as much as 3.92% at ₹6.12 on the BSE, before edging back to a price of ₹6.26, down 1.73% by 11:10 AM.
The decrease compounds the telecom operator’s distress in the current market. Vodafone Idea’s stock has fallen 18% in just the past month. The stock has lost more than 10% in the last three months. In six months, the share price has fallen 24% and 22% for the current calendar year. In the last 12 months, its stock has imploded by 60%.
Q1FY26 Anticipations
The telecom company, which is part of the Group Aditya Birla, is going to release its Q1FY26 results today. For Vodafone Idea Q1, Analysts expect the revenue and ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) details to show wider losses, though showing slight improvements over the quarter.
JM Financial highlighted that Vodafone Idea’s net loss for the June quarter could rise to ₹7,145 crore, compared to ₹6,432 crore during the same quarter last year. The company had a net loss of ₹7,166 crore in Q4FY25.
Revenue is expected to increase year-on-year by 6% to reach ₹11,135 crore from ₹10,508 crore in Q1FY26. On a sequential basis, revenue could be up 1.1% from ₹11,013 crore.
Jm financial estimate ARPU is expected to rise to ₹167 compared to ₹164 in the previous quarter (June 2025). The growth is driven by upgrades in the subscriber plan, better subscriber mix, and one day of chargeable billing in the quarter Q1FY26. The July 2024 tariff hike should also have had its influence on ARPU by the end of Q3FY25.
At the operational level, reported EBITDA is estimated to be ₹4,741 crore, which is a 1.8% increase from the previous quarter. Cash EBITDA (Pre-IND AS) is estimated to be ₹2,402 crore, a 3.5% increase from Q4FY25.
Additional Analyst Perspective
Motilal Oswal Financial Services believes Vodafone Idea’s wireless revenue will be flat versus the previous quarter, as subscriber losses will continue. We expect that the increase in ARPU will provide a benefit (but will only partially offset the impact).
Motilal Oswal projects EBITDA at 2% lower with margins decreasing by 80 basis points to 41.5%. ARPU is estimated at ₹165, and capital expenditures for the quarter will be ₹3,600 crore.
Market Outlook:
Today, results will be vital for investors weighing up the future of Vodafone Idea. While they may see small improvements in revenue and ARPU, the situation is still serious, with continued heavy losses, a declining subscriber base, and poor stock performance.
For the stock to recover, analysts are expecting Vodafone Idea to provide clear data showing financial improvement, how it will effectively invest in its telecom network, and how the company intends to recover market share in India’s hyper-competitive telecommunications market.
