Adds 0.95m new postpaid customers in the quarter and brings its total base to 27.5m.
Number of smartphone data users climb by 22.2m over the past year, represent an 8.4% YoY growth.
India’s telecom giant Bharti Airtel posted a stellar 89 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in consolidated net profit for the July–September quarter of the current financial year (Q2 FY26), propelled by strong gains in its mobile and data services.
Airtel’s net profit rose to Rs6,791.7 crore, up from Rs3,593.2 crore a year earlier, according to its latest stock exchange filing. The company’s consolidated revenue from operations also saw healthy expansion—up 25.7 per cent YoY to Rs52,145.4 crore, compared with Rs41,473.3 crore in Q2 FY25.
“We delivered another quarter of solid performance, achieving a consolidated revenue of Rs52,145 crore, growing 5.4 per cent sequentially and underscoring the strength of our portfolio,” said Gopal Vittal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director.
Vittal also highlighted multiple deal wins across connectivity, IoT, and security, citing these as key drivers in the quarter’s growth.
Operationally, Bharti Airtel reported a 36 per cent YoY increase in EBITDA, which stood at Rs29,919 crore. The EBITDA margin improved to 57.4 per cent, reflecting enhanced efficiency and higher average revenue per user (ARPU).
The company continued to consolidate its lead in the postpaid segment, adding 0.95 million new postpaid customers in the quarter and bringing its total base to 27.5 million. The number of smartphone data users climbed by 22.2 million over the past year, representing an 8.4 per cent YoY growth.
Airtel’s ARPU—a key industry metric—grew to Rs256 in Q2 FY26, compared with Rs233 in the same period last year.
Significantly, the company strengthened its balance sheet position, reducing its net debt-to-EBITDA ratio to 1.63 times, down from 2.50 times as of September 30, 2024.
“Our solid balance sheet is a reflection of disciplined capital allocation, continued deleveraging, and sustained operational excellence,” Vittal noted.
Brands and retailers now prioritise value growth over pure shipment volumes as average selling prices rise by 13%.
Apple dominates premium market with a 28% value share and enters into India’s top five smartphone brands by shipment volume for the first time.
Vivo (excluding iQOO) emerges as the leading smartphone brand by volume.
India’s smartphone market posted its highest-ever quarterly value in the July–September period, surging 18 per cent year-on-year (YoY) by value and 5 per cent by volume, according to the latest report from Counterpoint Research.
The robust growth comes amid buoyant festive season demand, aggressive discounting, and a major shift toward premium devices.
Analysts say the sector is evolving quickly, with brands and retailers now prioritising value growth over pure shipment volumes. The average selling price (ASP) climbed 13 per cent YoY in the quarter, driven by consumers’ growing appetite for higher-end models and increasingly attractive upgrade and financing options.
“Better household liquidity and festive optimism supported strong sales during the quarter,” said Prachir Singh, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research.
“Softer interest rates and easy financing further fueled upgrade-driven demand, encouraging brands to stock up early and roll out aggressive discounts, especially on older models.”
Rising consumer confidence
The premium smartphone segment—devices priced above Rs30,000—expanded the fastest, growing 29 per cent YoY in shipments. This segment’s momentum was fueled by multiple factors: easing retail inflation, rising consumer confidence, and widespread availability of trade-in and installment plans that made premium offerings more accessible.
Apple dominated the premium market with a 28 per cent value share, bolstered by sustained demand for its iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 series, as well as a strong initial response to the newly launched iPhone 17.
In a significant milestone, Apple also broke into India’s top five smartphone brands by shipment volume for the first time, cementing the country’s position as the world’s third-largest iPhone market. The iPhone 16 was the most shipped device in India for the second consecutive quarter.
Samsung secured a 23 per cent value share in the premium segment, driven by its Galaxy S and A series and record sales of its foldable phones.
Meanwhile, vivo (excluding iQOO) emerged as the leading smartphone brand by volume, capturing a 20 per cent market share thanks to its extensive offline presence and popular T-series models. OPPO (excluding OnePlus) also gained ground with a broader portfolio and strengthened retail partnerships.
Notably, analysts emphasised that enhanced retail networks, flexible financing, and strong brand appeal enabled Apple and other premium brands to reach beyond major cities, tapping into demand from India’s expanding base of technology-savvy consumers.
With India’s smartphone market hitting new highs, the industry is entering an era defined less by sheer shipment volumes and more by value-driven growth and consumer upgrades to premium devices. Brands that continue to innovate in retail, financing, and product design are well positioned to ride the next wave of market expansion.
Capacity to bend public mood is now in private hands, aligned with political power.
China’s role in global data collection triggered this deal, but the US answer risks repeating the same model under a different flag.
What began as protection from a foreign threat may end up entrenching ideological control at home.
Wealth is power, and power now owns the platforms of speech; all sizable social media in the US is owned by US billionaires.
Social media platform TikTok is a vast, endlessly scrolling stream of creativity, mimicry, and influence. Around 170 million Americans now open the app regularly, joining hundreds of millions more around the world in what has become a kind of global video bazaar. It is, as some have called it, a smorgasbord of culture.
Yet “dim sum” might be the better metaphor, because TikTok’s ultimate owner is ByteDance, a Chinese company – and that fact has been a persistent thorn in Washington’s side.
A framework deal for TikTok’s US operations to be transferred to a consortium of American investors was announced in September. This may soothe anxieties about Beijing’s reach, but it also concentrates control of one of the world’s most influential platforms in the hands of a small circle of US billionaires.
What began as a debate about data security has evolved into a reshaping of the digital marketplace itself — one that touches advertising, messaging, app development, and the telecom networks that bind them together.
The billionaire board
Dario Betti.
Wealth is power, and power now owns the platforms of speech; all sizable social media in the US is owned by US billionaires. The US TikTok board will read like a map of concentrated influence: Larry Ellison, Rupert Murdoch, Michael Dell, and their sons.
Ellison will oversee the US version of TikTok’s algorithm and data management. Oracle will “recreate” the recommendation engine and host it on its cloud, effectively owning the machine that feeds videos to 170 million Americans.
It is a quiet but massive shift in the power structure of digital attention.
The algorithm and the illusion of safety
Officials say the deal will prevent foreign manipulation. US authorities have long been concerned that TikTok’s ownership by a Chinese company could allow the Chinese government to access sensitive American user data, influence public opinion, or even use the platform for covert intelligence operations.
While the algorithm hasn’t changed, replacing Beijing’s reach with a domestic boardroom removes the potential for foreign government interference, but it doesn’t make the system transparent or immune. It only changes who can steer it – and who profits.
Larry Ellison has long believed that society runs better when it is watched. “People behave best when everything is recorded,” he once said.
Oracle has a history of collecting user data without clear consent. It settled a lawsuit in 2022 for tracking billions of people through ad-tech tools. Its dream of total visibility fits uneasily with the idea of digital freedom.
TikTok’s algorithm is not a neutral instrument. It decides what millions see, and what they don’t. To “franchise” such a system means licensing the power to influence minds. If the algorithm becomes a US asset, its tuning may reflect domestic politics rather than Chinese interests. Trump joked he would make it “100 per cent MAGA.”
It may have been a joke, but the concern is real. The capacity to bend public mood is now in private hands, aligned with political power.
Surveillance and soft power
China’s role in global data collection triggered this deal, but the US answer risks repeating the same model under a different flag. Ellison has ties not only to Trump but also to defence donors, and to the data surveillance industry.
Oracle’s partnership with police departments and intelligence agencies suggests that TikTok’s US infrastructure could merge with wider systems of monitoring.
The danger now is that national security becomes a license for domestic propaganda. What began as protection from a foreign threat may end up entrenching ideological control at home.
The mobile fallout
For advertisers, it creates another walled garden. Data that once circulated through open ad-tech channels will be captured inside Oracle’s cloud. Independent ad networks and smaller players will pay more to reach users and may see their analytics restricted.
For messaging platforms, it sets a precedent: political leaders can demand ownership changes in private apps. Once governments begin to redraw the map of platform control, no service is safe from political bargaining. Encryption and cross-border interoperability could be next.
For developers, fragmentation looms. A TikTok split into national versions suggests a future of “sovereign algorithms.” Each country could demand its own cloud, its own rules. Innovation thrives in open systems; it dies behind borders.
For telcos, the deal is another reminder of their paradox. Networks carry the traffic but lose the value. If platforms become tools of surveillance or propaganda, operators risk being conscripted into systems they do not control. The line between carrier and controller is blurring fast.
MEF believes regulation must be firm yet neutral. Security is necessary, but it must not become a pretext for political capture or monopoly control. The mobile ecosystem needs rules that protect users’ rights and ensure fair competition, not deals made in campaign season.
Changing the owner does not change the algorithm’s power. It only changes who it serves.
Dario Betti is CEO of MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum) a global trade body established in 2000 and headquartered in the UK with members across the world. As the voice of the mobile ecosystem, it focuses on cross-industry best practices, anti-fraud and monetisation. The Forum, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, provides its members with global and cross-sector platforms for networking, collaboration and advancing industry solutions.
Hyperscalers, major cloud service providers and digital platforms are industry’s leading spenders
In the second quarter of 2025 alone, spending on compute and storage infrastructure for AI surged by 166% compared to the same period last year, reaching $8b.
IDC forecasts accelerated servers will comprise over 95 per cent of server AI infrastructure spending by 2029.
The global artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure market is entering an era of unprecedented growth, with spending forecast to soar to $758 billion by 2029, according to the latest data from the International Data Corporation (IDC).
The revelation underscores the accelerating demand for robust computing and storage solutions to support a rapidly expanding set of AI deployments worldwide.
Organisations worldwide are ramping up expenditures on AI-centric hardware. In the second quarter of 2025 alone, spending on compute and storage infrastructure for AI surged by 166 per cent compared to the same period last year, reaching $82 billion.
IDC credits this growth primarily to investments in advanced servers designed for AI workloads, which now represent a foundational element of digital transformation across industries.
Cloud and shared environments remain the heart of current AI infrastructure spending, accounting for 84.1 per cent of total outlays in Q2 2025.
Hyperscalers, major cloud service providers, and digital platforms are the industry’s leading spenders, together representing an overwhelming 86.7 per cent of quarterly investment in AI infrastructure.
Servers play a dominant role in this trend, constituting 98 per cent of overall AI-centric spending—a category that saw a 173.2 per cent year-over-year increase. Servers embedded with hardware accelerators, such as GPUs, have become the preferred choice for AI platforms.
These accelerated servers now make up 91.8 per cent of total server-related AI spending, after growing by more than 207 per cent in the past year. IDC forecasts accelerated servers will comprise over 95 per cent of server AI infrastructure spending by 2029, with a 42 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
US leads but Asia showing fastest growth
The United States continues to command the lion’s share of global AI infrastructure investment, with 76 per cent of total spending in Q2 2025. China (PRC) is second with an 11.6 per cent share, while Asia-Pacific/Japan (6.9 per cent) and EMEA (4.7 per cent) round out the top regions. Looking ahead, the PRC is projected to grow fastest, posting a 41.5 per cent CAGR through 2029—slightly ahead of the US at 40.5 per cent.
Rising demand for handling massive, complex datasets needed for AI training and inference has also fueled growth in storage investments, which jumped 20.5 per cent year-over-year in Q2 2025. Nearly half of this spending (48 per cent) comes from cloud-based deployments, reflecting the need for scalable, accessible storage in modern AI workflows.
IDC analysts have revised earlier forecasts for a slowdown, pointing instead to an extended period of intense investment—especially for GPU and accelerator-based servers in the US.
“There is a distinct possibility that more AI-related investment will be announced in the coming years that will add to and extend the current mass deployment phase of accelerated servers well into 2026 and even beyond,” said Lidice Fernandez, group vice president, Worldwide Enterprise Infrastructure Trackers at IDC.
Industry experts expect that hyperscalers, major cloud service providers, and research/education sectors will continue to drive rapid adoption of AI infrastructure, ensuring robust support for innovation and digital transformation initiatives well into the next decade.
Same-day grocery delivery to reach over 1,000 US cities by year-end, with ambitions to hit 2,300 cities soon after.
Amazon’s aggressive investments in logistics signal a commitment to outpacing rivals in speed, reach, and customer experience.
As the holiday season approaches, Amazon is making strategic moves to solidify its dominance in fast delivery, announcing over $4 billion in new investments to boost its sprawling transportation and logistics network, particularly in rural America.
CEO Andy Jassy revealed that Amazon has already increased the reach of its Same-Day and Next-Day delivery services to 60 per cent more rural communities this year—serving areas often neglected by other carriers.
“These are small towns where people want fast delivery, but where other companies have been backing out and reducing service,” Jassy said. “We’re only halfway to our year-end goal.”
Strengthening the DSP Network
Central to Amazon’s delivery push is a further $1.9 billion investment in its North America Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program, raising total investment to $S16.7 billion over the past seven years. This initiative supports safety, driver training, and new tech for Amazon’s army of small-business logistics contractors, further improving last-mile efficiency.
The company is on pace to deliver to Prime members at record speed for the third year in a row—including the introduction of three-hour delivery windows in select US cities.
Grocery delivery gets a boost
Amazon’s logistics expansion isn’t limited to parcels. Same-day grocery delivery will reach over 1,000 US cities by year-end, with ambitions to hit 2,300 cities soon after. A recently launched “add-to-delivery” button, used over 80 million times, lets customers bundle last-minute grocery and regular orders—a move Jassy says drives increased customer retention, especially among fresh food buyers.
To support heightened holiday demand and broader coverage, Amazon plans to hire 250,000 US seasonal workers. Meanwhile, fulfillment efficiencies have helped Amazon absorb $4.3 billion in legal and severance charges, maintaining margins even during rapid expansion. The North America segment, which includes much of Amazon’s logistics operations, posted $106.3 billion in sales for the quarter—an 11 per cent year-over-year gain.
Amazon’s strong cloud results ease pressure from softer e-commerce growth and global trade uncertainty.
Amazon delivered its fastest cloud revenue growth in nearly three years in the third quarter, sparking a 14 per cent surge in after-hours share price and adding roughly $330 billion to its market value.
The online retail and tech giant pointed to relentless enterprise demand for artificial intelligence (AI) solutions as a key driver and projected fourth-quarter sales above Wall Street estimates. The company’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) division—responsible for more than half of Amazon’s operating income—reported a 20 per cent bump in revenue for the quarter ending September, handily outpacing analyst expectations of 18 per cent.
CEO Andy Jassy credited AWS’s “pace we haven’t seen since 2022,” enabled by growth in both AI and core cloud infrastructure. He flagged a coming increase in capital spending, driven largely by AI, with CFO Brian Olsavsky projecting CapEx to exceed this year’s estimated $125 billion.
Amazon’s strong cloud results eased pressure from softer e-commerce growth and global trade uncertainty, as the company braces for the holiday shopping season amid flagging consumer confidence. The tech giant projected Q4 sales of $206–$213 billion, above consensus forecasts.
AI arms race heats up
Amazon’s rally follows a week of strong cloud results from Microsoft and Google, both of which are also pouring record sums into data centers, chips, and AI research. Meta and Alphabet likewise signaled ongoing AI-fueled investment, with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noting that today’s AI boom, unlike the dot-com bubble, is driven by profitable, established businesses.
The Seattle-based company’s AI efforts have sometimes been criticised as lagging behind, but recent momentum, particularly at AWS, is helping close that gap. Jassy was upbeat with analysts: “I look at the momentum we have right now, and I believe that we can continue to grow and click like this for a while…in advertising and retail sales as well.”
Amazon’s advertising business remained a bright spot, growing 24 per cent YoY to $17.7 billion, as the company expands sponsored listings and explores new ad spaces such as the Echo Show and smart grocery carts.
However, the company also recorded a $1.8 billion charge related to severance, having cut 14,000 corporate jobs this quarter as part of a broader restructuring. Jassy framed the headcount reduction as a “culture” shift, aiming to reduce layers created during Amazon’s rapid expansion.
Results were further weighed down by a one-time $25 billion charge over a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission regarding Prime membership practices.
Looking forward
Despite workforce reductions and regulatory costs, Amazon’s focus on cloud, AI, and advertising is positioning it for continued growth.
With AWS accounting for around 60 per cent of total operating income on just over 15 per cent of total revenue, the unit’s performance remains central to Amazon’s valuation story as the company eyes further gains in the pivotal holiday quarter.
