Airtel Africa has reported strong operating and financial performance for the first quarter of its 2025 financial year, with earnings per share increasing by 3.4 cents, driven by improved operating profits despite higher finance costs related to tower contract renewals.
The telecommunications giant added 300 new sites during the quarter, expanding its network footprint to 37,579 sites. The company also extended its fibre infrastructure by 2,700 kilometres, bringing total fibre length to over 79,600 kilometres. This network expansion supported a 3.4% year-on-year increase in 4G population coverage, now reaching 74.7% across the region.
Capital expenditure for the quarter stood at $121 million, lower than the same period last year, primarily due to timing differences. However, Airtel reaffirmed its full-year capex guidance of between $725 million and $750 million.
In a significant step toward financial risk reduction, the company continued its debt localisation programme, with 95% of OpCo debt—excluding lease liabilities—now denominated in local currencies, up from 86% a year earlier. Despite a rise in overall leverage from 1.6x to 2.2x, largely reflecting a $1.3 billion increase in lease liabilities from tower contract renewals, lease-adjusted leverage remained stable at 0.9x.
Airtel also advanced its $55 million share buyback programme, returning $16.9 million to shareholders through the repurchase of 7.1 million ordinary shares as of June 30, 2025.
Speaking on the performance, Sunil Taldar, Chief Executive Officer, expressed satisfaction with the company’s results:
“We are very pleased with the strong growth in our operating and financial performance in the first quarter. The acceleration in customer base growth to 9%, and a 17.4% increase in data customers to 75.6 million, underscores our strong execution on the ground and our ongoing commitment to digitisation and customer experience simplification.”
Airtel also highlighted its continued focus on technology-driven innovation with the launch of Airtel Spam Alert, an AI-powered solution designed to boost network safety and user trust.
Taldar noted that with smartphone penetration at just 45.9%, the company sees significant room to drive further adoption across its markets:
“We remain committed to leveraging technology to lower barriers to smartphone access and to playing a key role in bridging the digital divide.”
