Airtel Africa Posts Strong Q1 Performance with 31% Revenue Growth, Expands Network and Airtel Money

Airtel Africa Plc has reported a 31.0% increase in revenue to $1.853 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, driven by double-digit growth across all business segments, continued customer expansion and rising demand for data and mobile money services.

The telecommunications group said revenue growth was supported by constant currency growth of 21.1%, with mobile services revenue rising by 19.1% and mobile money revenue increasing by 25.8%. Voice revenue grew by 11.2% while data revenue surged by 27.2%, reflecting sustained digital adoption across its markets.

In East Africa, revenue increased by 14.4% in constant currency, supported by a 9.3% growth in the customer base and a 5.3% increase in average revenue per user (ARPU). In reported currency, regional revenue rose 21.9% to $607 million, while voice revenue grew 8.0%, largely driven by subscriber growth.

Chief Executive Officer Sunil Taldar attributed the performance to the company’s continued investment in customer experience, digital transformation and network expansion.

“Our continued focus on the customer experience translated into accelerating customer base growth across all business segments,” he said, adding that increased smartphone adoption and network investments had significantly boosted data consumption.

Smartphone penetration reached 51%, up 5.2 percentage points from a year earlier, helping drive a 56.3% increase in data traffic across the network as customers increasingly embraced digital services.

Airtel Africa’s total customer base grew by 11.6% to 189 million, while data customers increased by 15.5% to 87.3 million. Average monthly data usage per customer rose from 7.8GB to 10.6GB over the past year, contributing to a 10.3% increase in constant currency data ARPU.

The company’s mobile financial services business also maintained strong momentum. Airtel Money’s annualised total processed value (TPV) climbed 51.5% to more than $245 billion, supported by a 23.3% increase in customers to 56.5 million and higher platform engagement.

Taldar said the company remained committed to expanding financial inclusion through broader digital payment solutions while confirming London as the preferred listing venue for Airtel Money later this year.

Profitability also improved during the period, with EBITDA rising 36.6% to $928 million and the EBITDA margin strengthening to 50.1%, reflecting the benefits of Airtel Africa’s cost optimisation programme despite higher energy costs linked to global geopolitical developments.

Profit after tax increased to $198 million from $156 million in the previous period, although earnings were partially affected by foreign exchange losses and a one-off finance cost related to the settlement of a commercial dispute within one of the group’s subsidiaries.

Basic earnings per share rose to 4.4 cents from 3.4 cents a year earlier, while earnings before exceptional items improved to 5.4 cents.

To support future demand, Airtel Africa significantly increased capital expenditure to $389 million from $121 million in the previous year. During the quarter, the company rolled out more than 920 new sites—its highest first-quarter deployment—and expanded its fibre network to 82,100 kilometres to improve network quality, coverage and capacity.

The group’s balance sheet also strengthened, with leverage reducing from 2.2 times to 1.7 times, supported by stronger EBITDA performance. Lease-adjusted leverage improved to 0.5 times from 0.9 times.

Meanwhile, Airtel Africa continued returning value to shareholders after its board approved a share buyback programme covering up to 1% of the company’s issued share capital. By the end of June, the company had repurchased approximately 10.2 million shares at a total cost of $46.6 million.

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