India, May 18 -- Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, reported a decline in average revenue per user (ARPU) during the fourth quarter of FY26. While the company continued to record year-on-year growth, the quarter-on-quarter decline marked the first such drop in several years.

Airtel's ARPU fell from Rs 259 in Q3 FY26 to Rs 257 in Q4 FY26. The company attributed the decline to issues related to pricing architecture and the shorter duration of the quarter. According to Airtel, Q4 FY26 had two fewer days compared with the previous quarter, which impacted overall revenue calculations.

The management stated that if both quarters had contained the same number of days, Airtel's ARPU would have increased by around Rs 3.

Bha...