Airtel Africa Plc has recorded a strong start to its 2026/27 financial year, with revenue climbing 31% on the back of rising customer demand for data and mobile money services, the company has announced.
For the quarter ended 30 June 2026, the telecommunications and mobile money giant posted revenue of $1.853 billion, up 31.0% from the same period last year.
On a constant currency basis, revenue grew 21.1%, boosted by double-digit growth across all business segments and favourable exchange rate movements.
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Mobile services revenue rose 19.1% in constant currency terms, while mobile money revenue jumped 25.8%, reflecting sustained demand for digital financial services across the company’s markets.
Within mobile services, voice revenue increased 11.2%, while data revenue grew 27.2%, driven by rising smartphone uptake and increased data usage among subscribers.
Across the regions, East Africa recorded constant currency growth of 17.8%, Francophone Africa grew 18.0%, and Nigeria posted 29.8% growth, helped by the full impact of tariff adjustments introduced in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Profit after tax rose to $198 million, up from $156 million in the same period last year, driven mainly by stronger operating performance.
Earnings were, however, partly weighed down by $6 million in derivative and foreign exchange losses, compared with gains of $22 million a year earlier.
The company’s profit was also affected by an exceptional finance cost of $37 million, following an in-principle settlement of a commercial dispute involving one of its subsidiaries.
Basic earnings per share rose to 4.4 US cents, from 3.4 US cents the previous year, while earnings per share before exceptional items improved to 5.4 US cents.
Airtel Africa significantly ramped up capital spending during the quarter as it pushed ahead with network expansion. Capital expenditure jumped to $389 million, from $121 million in the same period last year.
The firm rolled out more than 920 new network sites during the quarter — its largest first-quarter expansion on record — and extended its fibre network to 82,100 kilometres, as part of efforts to boost network quality, capacity and coverage.
The board also approved a share buyback programme to repurchase up to 1% of the company’s issued share capital.
As at 30 June 2026, Airtel Africa had bought back around 10.2 million shares at a total cost of $46.6 million.
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Chief Executive Officer Sunil Taldar said the company had made an encouraging start to the financial year, with customer growth accelerating across all segments.
He said Airtel Africa remained focused on digital transformation, simplifying customer journeys and leveraging data and artificial intelligence to improve service delivery and drive long-term growth.
Smartphone penetration across the company’s footprint reached 51.0% during the quarter, up 5.2 percentage points over the past year, while data traffic grew by 56.3%, underlining rising demand for digital services.
The results reinforce Airtel Africa’s broader growth strategy, as the company continues to benefit from expanding digital connectivity, growing mobile money adoption, and sustained investment in network infrastructure across its operations.
