New Delhi, November 29 (Udaipur Kiran): Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, may soon enter a new capital expenditure (capex) cycle, according to a report by JP Morgan. The company had started moderating its capex after reaching a peak in the first quarter of FY24, mainly because aggressive 5G rollout was no longer required as the device ecosystem was still evolving.
However, JP Morgan noted that Airtel now has multiple growth drivers beyond 5G, including its home broadband business and the data centre segment. These areas will require higher capex spending to help the company maintain its competitive edge in the market.
As per the report, Airtel may begin this fresh capex cycle from fiscal year 2027. This could impact the company’s free cash flow (FCF), which had improved significantly in recent years due to controlled capex. The stronger FCF had helped Airtel reduce its debt quickly and also made it attractive for investors.
JP Morgan said that Airtel’s strong FCF performance turned it into one of the best-performing mega-cap stocks this year. However, the brokerage also cautioned that the company’s plans to accelerate broadband growth, build a 1 GW data centre and early signs of 5G capacity constraints could pose fresh risks to this assumption.
The pace of new customer additions in Airtel’s homes business has also picked up. The company added around one million new home broadband users during the September 2025 quarter. There is still significant scope for further user growth, but this would require higher capex, which may again put pressure on FCF in the short term while opening up monetisation opportunities in the future.
In addition, Airtel has partnered with Google and Adani Enterprises to set up an artificial intelligence data centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The combined investment for this project is estimated at $15 billion, or about ₹1.25 lakh crore, over the next five years.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.
