Data, Mobile Money Fuel 25.8% Revenue Surge for Airtel Africa to $2.98B

Airtel Africa PLC Group revenue in reported currency increased by 25.8% to $2,982m, with constant currency growth of 24.5% for the half year ended 30 September 2025.

Reported currency revenue growth at a premium to constant currency growth reflects currency appreciation in key markets. Constant currency revenue growth was supported by tariff adjustments in Nigeria and a recovery in Francophone Africa revenue growth, which accelerated to 16.1% in the half-year. In East Africa, constant currency growth also remained strong at 19.8%.

Mobile services revenue at $2,495m grew by 23.9% in reported currency and by 23.1% in constant currency. Following strong data revenue growth of 37.0%, it has now become the Group’s largest revenue contributor, surpassing voice revenues, which grew by 13.2%. Mobile money revenue grew by 33.9% in reported currency and by 30.2% in constant currency, driven by strong growth both in East Africa and Francophone Africa.

Sunil Taldar, Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer, on the trading update:

“Our strategy has been focused on providing a superior customer experience, and the strength of these results is testament to the initiatives that we have been implementing across the business. Digital innovation is a core focus, and we’re pleased to see the growing adoption of the MyAirtel app as we seek to deepen customer engagement and simplify the customer journey. Furthermore, our network continues to scale as we build additional capacity to facilitate the rise in both digital and financial inclusion. The increase in smartphone penetration to 46.8% reflects the substantial demand for data services across our markets, but also highlights the scale of the opportunity to further develop the digital economy.

Airtel Money continues to gain momentum, with our customer base nearing 50 million and annualized total processed value approaching $200bn, up over 35% year-on-year. The acceleration in customer growth and continued growth in engagement on the platform reflect our success in driving digital adoption and innovation to enhance the ecosystem. The preparation for the IPO remains on course for a listing in the first half of 2026.

The strength of our revenue performance – up 24.5% in constant currency – and further cost efficiency initiatives has continued to support a further increase in EBITDA margins to 49% in Q2’26, and we‘ll continue to focus on further incremental margin improvements, subject to macroeconomic stability. This strong performance gives us the confidence to increase our capex guidance for this financial year to between $875m and $900m, as we accelerate our investments to capture the full potential across our markets and deliver long-term value for all stakeholders.”

East Africa revenue grew by 18.5% in reported currency to $1,047m and by 15.6% in constant currency. Higher reported currency revenue growth as compared to constant currency was primarily due to the Ugandan shilling and Zambian kwacha appreciation. The constant currency growth was made up of voice revenue growth of 14.6% and data revenue growth of 19.6%.

Voice revenues were supported by customer base growth of 10.8% and voice ARPU growth of 3.8%. The customer base growth was largely driven by the expansion of both increased network coverage and the increasing scale of the distribution network.

Data customer base growth of 19.0% contributed to the strong performance in data revenues. We continue to invest in the network and expand our 4G and 5G network in the region. 1,467 sites are 5 G-enabled across four key markets. Data usage per customer increased to 7.3 GB per customer per month, up by 25.0%, with smartphone penetration increasing 3.5% to reach 43.7%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 9.0 GB per month compared to 7.4 GB per month in the prior period.

EBITDA increased to $505m, up by 20.8% in reported currency and up by 17.3% in constant currency. EBITDA margins of 48.3% as compared to 47.3% in the prior period, up by 92bps.

Operating free cash flow was $381m, up by 40.0% in constant currency, due largely to EBITDA growth and lower capex during the current period.

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