S&P Global Ratings Upgrades Bharti Airtel to 'BBB+' on High Biz Growth, Balance Sheet Discipline

New Delhi, June 25: S&P Global Ratings upgraded Bharti Airtel to ‘BBB+’, citing high growth in Africa and India, as well as balance sheet discipline.

S&P said that a stable outlook reflects its expectation that Bharti Airtel will pay down debt as earnings and cash flows strengthen, while maintaining a supportive leverage tolerance for the ‘BBB+’ rating over the next 12-24 months.

“On June 24, 2026, S&P Global Ratings raised its long-term issuer credit ratings on Bharti Airtel to ‘BBB+’ from ‘BBB’. At the same time, we raised our ratings on the senior unsecured debt the company issued to ‘BBB+’ from ‘BBB’,” it said on Wednesday.

The growing data consumption in high-growth markets of India and Africa will drive higher earnings for Bharti Airtel and support debt reduction, it said.

“We expect the India-based telecom company to prudently manage its balance sheet and operate at lower leverage than before,” it added.

For India operations, it is estimated that Bharti Airtel’s subscriber numbers will increase by 3-4 per cent over the next year and average revenue per user by 5-7 per cent.

Bharti Airtel’s India operations will benefit from higher consumer spending on telco services, as well as subscriber adds. This will be driven by growing data consumption and the company’s efforts in driving premiumisation. Churn from other players will also support earnings growth in India, according to an S&P Global statement.

Operating performance at Bharti Airtel’s African businesses is stronger-than-expected, and it is seen outpacing earnings growth from its India operations over the next 12-24 months.

In the base case, it projects the African customer numbers to grow 9-11 per cent annually, and 5-7 per cent annual growth in ARPU in US dollars through the fiscal year ending March 31, 2028.

“We forecast the company’s consolidated EBITDA will increase by 8-10 per cent annually over the subsequent two years, after a 28 per cent increase in fiscal 2026 (year ending March 31). Over the same period, we estimate that Africa earnings will rise to 25-27 per cent of Bharti Airtel’s consolidated EBITDA, up from our previous estimates of about 20 per cent,” it said.

Put simply, EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation, and is a measure of a company’s operating profitability.

S&P statement further said Bharti Airtel will likely increase capital spending to fund new growth drivers.

“We forecast capex to rise annually and reach about Rs 565 billion (Rs 56,500 crore by fiscal 2028, up 25 per cent from Rs 452 billion (Rs 45,200 crore) in fiscal 2026,” it said.

The company, it said, will use the increased capex for its data centre business (Nxtra Data), cloud services, and its African operations.

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel’s India financial services segment would require more capital investments as it ramps up more meaningfully over the next few years, the statement said, adding that the telco is unlikely to need large amounts to be spent on spectrum auctions at least until fiscal 2030, when its next band of radiowaves will be up for renewal.

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