1. Diesel elimination - significant traction over next few years On track - At the Q1 FY27 call, management said the long-term strategy to fundamentally eliminate diesel from operations will show "significant traction" over the next few years, as it requires redesigning sites. Diesel consumption fell 13% YoY in Q1 FY27, after \~7% in Q4 FY26 and 4% in Q3 FY26, with solar access added to about 3,700 sites taking the total to about 46,000.
2. Africa entry - Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia in FY26 Delivered - At the Q2 FY26 call, management committed that Africa entry will begin organically - building new towers in Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia with an anchor customer from day one. The FY26 annual report confirms entry into all three markets in FY26, and by Q1 FY27 regulatory approvals, operating licenses and anchor-customer orders were secured across all three.
3. Integrated solar management platform - integrate annual deployment of 20K+ sites Delivered - In the FY24 annual report, the integrated solar management platform was stated to be fully implemented and geared up to integrate an annual deployment of 20K+ sites. Over 15,000 solar sites were added in FY25 taking the base close to 30,000, and by Q1 FY27 the total reached about 46,000, with \~28,000 sites given solar access over the last 2 years.
4. Buyback - up to 5,67,74,193 shares at ₹465 per share Delivered - At the August 2024 filing, the Board approved a buyback of up to 5,67,74,193 equity shares at ₹465 per share, opening on August 14, 2024. In Q2 FY25 the buyback of 5.68 crore shares was completed at ₹465 per share, after which Bharti Airtel shareholding increased to more than 50%.
5. Maintenance capex - elevated for 3 to 4 years On track - At the Q1 FY26 call, management indicated investors could expect 3 to 4 years of high maintenance capex, replacing roughly one-fourth to one-fifth of the portfolio's batteries, later quantified at \~₹500-550 crore/quarter vs ₹250-300 crore earlier. Maintenance capex has doubled over the last 5 quarters to around ₹500-plus crore per quarter, and in Q1 FY27 management said the lead-acid to lithium-ion transition will continue "for some time".
6. Tower and tenancy growth - FY26 strong year of growth Delivered - At the Q4 FY25 call, management said FY26 "will also connect to a strong year of growth" with the order book "quite strong" and tower and tenancy growth "will remain strong in the coming year". FY26 delivered \~15,200 tower additions and \~22,500 co-location additions with tenancy ratio stable at 1.62, and revenue from operations up 7.9% YoY.
7. EV charging business - mid to high double-digit returns aspiration Missed - At the Q3 FY25 call, the CFO said aspirational returns for the EV charging business are expected to be "mid to high sort of double digit returns", with the business at commercial pilot stage. At the Q1 FY27 call, management deprioritized EV charging, focusing on India towers plus Africa after evaluating POCs, and no return figures or scale-up were disclosed.
8. Airtel tower acquisition - \~12,600 towers, full-quarter revenue from Q1 FY26 Delivered - At the Q4 FY25 call, management said acquired Airtel towers will reflect full-quarter revenue from Q1 FY26, with the \~12,600-tower acquisition funded through borrowing. The asset transfer occurred in the last week of March 2025 for ₹1,800 crore, Q1 FY26 included the first full quarter revenue, and borrowings were retired during FY26.
9. ARPT - broadly stable with no major movement anticipated Delivered - At the Q4 FY24 call, the CFO guided ARPT to remain broadly stable with "no major movement anticipated", aside from minor mix impact from lower-rental new tower designs. FY25 ARPT was 40,856 including acquisition versus prior year 41,198, with movements attributed to seasonality, sharing and rates-and-taxes chargebacks rather than any major shift.
10. Dividend policy - 100% of free cash flow distribution Delivered - At the Q1 FY24 call, management said the dividend policy requires distributing 100% of free cash flow to shareholders, while declining to guide on FY24 dividends given capex and collection uncertainty. No dividend was declared in FY24 and a ₹465 buyback was done in FY25, but in Q4 FY26 the Board recommended a final dividend of ₹14 per share, a payout of nearly 100% of FY26 free cash flow of ₹3,760 crore.
11. Net debt - around ₹5,000 crore as guiding light for 1-2 years Delivered - At the Q1 FY24 call, management said net debt of around ₹5,000 crore is the level the company is comfortable at and will use as a "guiding light" over the coming one to two years. By Q3 FY25 debt excluding lease liabilities was down to about ₹1,000 crore, and the FY26 annual report confirms borrowings were retired during FY26, with FY26 debt to equity at 0.02 without lease liabilities.
12. Energy margin improvement - FY2024 better than FY2023 Missed - At the Q4 FY23 call, management guided that the energy margin in FY2024 is going to look better than FY2023, whose adjusted margin was -1.8%. FY24 quarterly energy margins ran between -2.1% and -3%, and the trend stayed negative through FY26 - from -5.2% reported in Q4 FY25 (-2% adjusted) to -4.6% in Q1 FY27 - with no sustained improvement.
13. Tower addition run rate - increase in coming quarters Delivered - At the Q3 FY23 call, management said the company's run rate in the coming quarters should increase given the requirement seen from operators. Additions rose from 1,466 macro towers in Q3 FY23 to four consecutive record quarters - 5,410 in Q1 FY24 through 7,961 in Q4 FY24 - with 14,662 added in Q4 FY25 including acquisition.
14. Standalone 5G sites - required in 1 to 2 years Partial - At the Q3 FY23 call, management said "could be anywhere between one to two years before new stand-alone sites are required for 5G", depending on rollout speed and data capacity build-up. By Q4 FY25 5G infill towers had not started on a broad basis, with 5G coming as loading on existing towers, and in Q3 FY26 no near-term infill stand-alone sites were expected - no standalone 5G rollout disclosed through Q1 FY27.
15. 5G loading revenue - 5% to 10% of average revenue over time On track - At the Q2 FY23 call, management expected "somewhere in the vicinity of 5% to 10% of our average revenue to be coming from 5G overall over a period of time", with loading revenue higher than the 4G level. 5G loading started adding to revenues by Q4 FY23 and continued increasing through Q4 FY24, but no disclosure quantifying it as a percentage of average revenue was found in the record.
16. VIL payment plan - part payment till Dec 2022, 100% from Jan 2023, past dues cleared by July 2023 Delivered - At the Q1 FY23 call, management stated VIL's proposed payment plan: part payment till December 2022, 100% thereafter, and old dues accumulated till December 2022 cleared between January 2023 and July 2023. The July 2023 deadline passed with provisions peaking at ₹5,700 crore, but the customer cleared the entire overdue amount by Q4 FY25 - ₹5,100 crore in FY25 alone - with 100% current billing collection sustained since FY24.
17. MSA renewal framework - 10-year renewals with \~₹500/tenancy discount, 9% exit option Delivered - At the Q1 FY23 call, management stated both major customers agreed to renew the majority of sites expiring between March 2022 and March 2023 for 10 years, with an option to exit up to 9% of sites and a renewal discount of roughly ₹500 per tenancy. The bulk of expiring co-locations were renewed as of April 1, 2022, almost one third of the portfolio was renewed in FY2023, exits ran at business-as-usual levels such as 655 in Q3 FY24, and renewals continue on the same commercial terms.