Airtel Africa Records Strong Q3 Growth as Profit Jumps 137%, Subscriber Base Reaches 179 Million
By The People’s Voice Nigeria News
Airtel Africa Plc has delivered a strong financial and operational performance for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2025, reporting a 136.6 per cent increase in profit after tax to $586 million, as robust revenue growth, rising data demand and the rapid expansion of its mobile money business continued to drive momentum across its African operations.
The pan-African telecommunications and mobile money services provider posted revenues of $4.67 billion, up 28.3 per cent in reported currency and 24.6 per cent in constant currency, reflecting improved market conditions, increased customer adoption of digital services and favourable currency movements in several operating markets.
Subscriber Growth, Data Demand Power Performance
Airtel Africa’s total customer base expanded by 10 per cent year-on-year to 179.4 million subscribers across its 14 markets in sub-Saharan Africa, underscoring sustained demand for mobile connectivity and digital services on the continent.
Data customers rose by 14.6 per cent to 81.8 million, supported by improved network quality and increased smartphone adoption. Smartphone penetration climbed by 3.9 percentage points to 48.1 per cent, while average data usage per customer increased to 8.6GB per month from 6.9GB recorded in the prior period.
Data revenue, now the largest contributor to group revenue, grew by 36.5 per cent in constant currency, highlighting a shift toward higher-value services. Voice revenue also remained resilient, increasing by 13.5 per cent in constant currency during the period.
Mobile Money Business Crosses Key Milestones
Airtel Africa’s mobile money platform, Airtel Money, continued its rapid expansion, crossing two major milestones during the quarter. The number of Airtel Money customers surpassed 50 million for the first time, reaching 52 million users, representing a 17.3 per cent year-on-year increase.
In addition, the platform’s annualised total processed value (TPV) exceeded the $200 billion mark, rising by 36 per cent to over $210 billion in Q3’26. Mobile money revenues grew by 29.4 per cent in constant currency, driven by increased transaction volumes, deeper merchant partnerships and wider adoption of digital financial services across East and Francophone Africa.
The mobile money segment also recorded improved average revenue per user (ARPU), reflecting growing customer engagement and a broader ecosystem that includes payments, transfers and financial services.
Profitability Strengthens, Margins Expand
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 35.9 per cent in reported currency to $2.28 billion, while EBITDA margins improved to 48.9 per cent from 46.2 per cent recorded in the same period last year.
During the third quarter alone, EBITDA margins expanded further to 49.6 per cent, supported by strong revenue growth and continued benefits from Airtel Africa’s cost-efficiency programme.
Basic earnings per share surged to 13.1 cents, compared with 4.4 cents in the prior period, reflecting higher operating profits and foreign exchange gains, particularly from currency appreciation in key markets such as Nigeria.
Investment Accelerates as Network Footprint Expands
To support growing demand and improve service quality, Airtel Africa increased capital expenditure by 32.2 per cent to $603 million during the period. The company deployed approximately 2,500 new network sites and expanded its fibre infrastructure by about 4,000 kilometres, taking total fibre length to more than 81,500 kilometres.
These investments helped lift population coverage to 81.7 per cent, strengthening Airtel Africa’s position in both urban and rural markets while enhancing capacity for data-heavy services.
The company also reported improved balance-sheet strength, with net debt-to-EBITDA declining to 1.9 times from 2.4 times a year earlier, driven by stronger cash generation. Lease-adjusted leverage similarly improved to 0.7 times.
CEO Highlights Strategy, Eyes Airtel Money Listing
Commenting on the performance, Airtel Africa Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Taldar, said the results reflect disciplined execution and continued investment across the business.
“These results highlight the strength of our strategy, with strong operating and financial trends across the business. We are accelerating investment to enhance coverage and data capacity while expanding our fibre network to support a superior customer experience,” Taldar said.
He added that Airtel Africa’s focus on financial inclusion continues to gain momentum, noting the rapid growth of the Airtel Money platform.
“Surpassing 50 million mobile money customers and achieving annualised total processed value of over $210 billion underscores the scale of our ecosystem and our role in expanding access to financial services across Africa. We remain on track for the planned listing of Airtel Money in the first half of 2026,” he said.
Outlook
With rising smartphone adoption, increasing demand for high-speed connectivity and expanding digital financial services, Airtel Africa said it remains confident in the long-term growth potential of its markets and its ability to create sustainable value for customers, shareholders and other stakeholders.
Airtel Africa operates in 14 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, providing mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money solutions, with a strategy centred on customer experience, digital innovation and financial inclusion.
