Vodafone Idea shares pushed up another 4 percent on Friday, brushing past early market weakness to hit an intraday peak of 14.14 rupees on both the BSE and NSE. The rally marks the telecom player's sixth straight winning session, bringing cumulative gains over that stretch to almost 12 percent. Buyers piled into the counter from the morning bell, pushing trading volumes well above 500 million shares even as frontline benchmarks like the Sensex struggled to stay green.
The sudden burst of optimism traces straight back to the company's latest first-quarter numbers, which showed losses shrinking much faster than most analysts anticipated. Consolidated net loss for the June quarter narrowed to 3,754 crore rupees from a hefty 6,608 crore rupees a year earlier, while top-line revenue ticked up nearly 6 percent to 11,689 crore rupees.
A lot of that relief came from a noticeable bump in average revenue per user, which climbed to 195 rupees as more subscribers moved over to 4G and 5G plans, coupled with trimmed finance charges and a one-time accounting gain. Traders on Dalal Street are taking this as an early sign that the carrier might finally be finding some operational footing after years of cash burns.
With recent tariff hikes kicking in and fresh capital easing immediate liquidity headaches, the management team is channeling money into long-delayed 4G network expansions and rolling out 5G towers across priority circles. For investors watching from the sidelines, the real test ahead will be whether the telco can stop subscriber bleed and turn these operational gains into durable cash flows.