Airtel Africa has reported a strong financial performance for the year ended March 31, 2026, driven by robust customer growth, rising data consumption, expanding mobile money operations and improved operational efficiency across its markets.
The telecommunications and mobile money operator said revenue grew by 29.5 per cent in reported currency to $6.415 billion from $4.955 billion recorded in the previous financial year. In constant currency terms, revenue increased by 24 per cent.
Profit after tax rose sharply by 147.4 per cent to $813 million, compared with $328 million in the previous year, supported by stronger operating profit and foreign exchange and derivative gains.
Operating profit climbed 45.1 per cent to $2.115 billion, while underlying EBITDA increased by 37.2 per cent in reported currency to $3.162 billion. EBITDA margin improved to 49.3 per cent from 46.5 per cent a year earlier, peaking at 50.3 per cent in the fourth quarter.
The company also recorded significant growth in its customer base, which rose by 10.5 per cent to 183.5 million subscribers, representing its highest net customer additions to date.
Data customers increased by 14.8 per cent to 84.2 million, while smartphone penetration improved to 49.5 per cent from 44.8 per cent in the previous year. Average monthly data usage per customer rose to 8.9GB from 7GB, helping to drive a 16.2 per cent increase in constant currency data ARPU.
Airtel Africa said Airtel Money continued its strong expansion, with customers rising by 21.3 per cent to 54.1 million. Annualised total processed value on the platform grew by 49 per cent to more than $215 billion during the fourth quarter of the financial year.
The company noted that mobile money revenue grew by 28.4 per cent in constant currency, while data revenue, now the largest contributor to group revenue, rose by 35.2 per cent.
In Nigeria, Airtel Africa said revenue growth was boosted by tariff adjustments and favourable macroeconomic conditions, with constant currency revenue in the Nigerian operation growing by 47.5 per cent.
Commenting on the results, Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Taldar, described the performance as one of the company’s strongest ever, citing growth in both operating and financial metrics.
“This year delivered a very strong performance across both operating and financial metrics, reflecting the attractive industry fundamentals and structural growth drivers across our footprint,” Taldar said.
He said the company’s adoption of digital technologies and artificial intelligence helped improve customer experience, optimise networks and accelerate adoption of the myAirtel app.
According to him, smartphone customers increased by 22 per cent to 91 million, contributing to nearly 50 per cent growth in data traffic during the year.
Taldar also disclosed that Airtel Africa remained committed to the planned Airtel Money initial public offering, although prevailing geopolitical developments had affected the anticipated timing of the listing.
“We have made good progress and remain committed to the listing as market conditions allow, with the intention of undertaking the IPO in the second half of 2026,” he said.
On infrastructure expansion, Airtel Africa increased capital expenditure by 31.9 per cent to $884 million during the year. The company rolled out more than 3,250 new sites and expanded its fibre network by approximately 3,200 kilometres to 81,900 kilometres.
For the 2027 financial year, Airtel Africa projected capital expenditure of about $1.1 billion as it intensifies investments in network coverage, home broadband and data centres.
The company also improved its leverage position, reducing leverage from 2.3x to 1.8x during the year.
Airtel Africa’s board recommended a final dividend of 4.26 cents per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 7.1 cents per share, representing a 9.2 per cent increase over the previous year.
