Airtel Africa Q1 2025 revenue surges 24.9%, profit jumps 408%

Airtel Africa Plc, a leading telecommunications and mobile money services provider across 14 sub-Saharan African countries, has reported a robust financial and operational performance for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 (Q1 2026 fiscal year).

The company saw significant jumps in revenue and profit, driven by strong customer growth in data and mobile money services.

The telecom giant’s revenue surged by 24.9% in constant currency to $1.415 billion, reflecting effective strategy execution and consistent demand across its markets. In reported currency, revenue grew by 22.4%.

The strong top-line performance translated into a remarkable increase in profit after tax, which soared to $156 million from just $31 million in the prior period, largely due to higher operating profit and favourable foreign exchange gains. Basic Earnings Per Share (EPS) followed suit, rising sharply to 3.4 cents from 0.2 cents.

Operational highlights underscore the growth. Airtel Africa’s total customer base expanded by 9.0% to 169.4 million. Data customers led the charge, increasing by an impressive 17.4% to 75.6 million, fueled by accelerating demand and a 4.3% rise in smartphone penetration. Data Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) also accelerated, growing 18.5% in constant currency.

Healthy EBITDA

The Mobile Money segment continues to be a key growth engine, with its customer base expanding by 16.1% to 45.8 million. This drove a 35% increase in annualised transaction value to $162 billion, alongside an 11.3% ARPU growth in constant currency.

Sunil Taldar, Airtel Africa’s Chief Executive Officer, expressed satisfaction with the results, stating, “We are very pleased with the strong growth in our operating and financial performance in the first quarter. The strength of this performance, and the scale of the growth we achieved, reflects the sustained demand for our services and the strength of our business model.”

The company also reported a healthy EBITDA of $679 million, a 32.7% increase in constant currency, with EBITDA margins expanding to 48.0%. This was attributed to continued operating momentum, stable fuel prices, and cost efficiency programmes.

Airtel Africa continues its debt localization efforts, with nearly 95% of its operating company debt now in local currency, and is progressing with its share buyback programme.

Airtel Nigeria showed a very strong performance:

• Revenue: Grew by 6% in constant currency to $332 million. In reported currency, revenue increased by 29.8%. This was largely driven by continued strong demand for data services and the full impact of tariff adjustments.
• EBITDA: Improved significantly by 7% in constant currency to $185 million (49.9% in reported currency).
• EBITDA Margin: Expanded by an impressive 750 basis points to 55.7%, driven by strong revenue growth and cost efficiencies.
• Customer Base: Grew by 3% to 53.6 million.
• Data Customers: Increased by 3% to 29.3 million, with data usage per customer rising by 27.3% to 9.3 GB per month. Smartphone penetration in Nigeria reached 51.4%.
• Operating Free Cash Flow: Soared by 5% in constant currency to $146 million.

The report highlights that the difference between constant and reported currency growth for Nigeria was due to the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira from an average rate of NGN/USD 1,384 in the prior period to NGN/USD 1,585 in the current period.