Airtel Africa delivered a strong start to its 2027 financial year, reporting 31.0 percent growth in revenue to $1.853 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, supported by rising ARPU, rapid customer growth, expanding digital adoption, AI-driven customer experience initiatives, and accelerated network investments.
EBITDA of Airtel Africa rose 24.4 percent to $928 million, lifting EBITDA margin to 50.1 percent from 48.0 percent a year earlier. Profit after tax increased 27.0 percent to $198 million.
The telecom operator’s customer base expanded 11.6 percent to 189.0 million, with data subscribers rising 15.5 percent to 87.3 million. Mobile money customers climbed 23.3 percent to 56.5 million, highlighting continued adoption of Airtel’s digital financial services.
ARPU of Airtel Africa increased 18.1 percent to $3.3, while data ARPU grew 10.3 percent in constant currency. Smartphone penetration reached 51.0 percent, enabling average monthly data usage per customer to increase from 7.8 GB to 10.6 GB, driving a 56.3 percent surge in network data traffic.
Airtel Africa continued to strengthen its digital strategy by streamlining customer journeys, expanding digital adoption, and using data analytics and artificial intelligence to improve service delivery and customer experience. The company said these initiatives, combined with higher smartphone penetration and sustained network investment, are supporting long-term growth across its African markets.
Digital financial services remained another major growth engine. Airtel Money processed annualised transactions worth more than $245 billion, representing 51.5 percent growth. Quarterly mobile money revenue increased 38.9 percent to $404 million, while total processed value reached $61.4 billion during the quarter.
Mobile money ARPU of Airtel Africa improved to $2.4, supported by expanding digital payment use cases and deeper customer engagement. Airtel also confirmed London as its preferred listing venue for the planned Airtel Money IPO.
Airtel Africa significantly accelerated network expansion, increasing capital expenditure to $389 million from $121 million a year earlier. Airtel deployed more than 920 new sites, its highest first-quarter rollout, while expanding its fibre network to 82,100 km. The operator operates 3,609 5G sites across seven markets, strengthening capacity, coverage and customer experience while supporting future services such as home broadband.
Regional performance remained robust. Nigeria generated $501 million in revenue, up 50.4 percent, while East Africa recorded $854 million, growing 27.6 percent, and Francophone Africa delivered $492 million, an increase of 19.7 percent. The operator also improved its financial position, reducing leverage from 2.2x to 1.7x as higher EBITDA strengthened cash generation.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH
