Airtel Africa Plc has reported a big bounce in profitability for the half yr ended 30 September 2025, as increased knowledge and cell cash utilization mixed with improved foreign money tendencies lifted efficiency throughout its 14 markets.
The corporate’s income and revenue development got here regardless of ongoing macroeconomic challenges in key territories, together with Nigeria and components of Francophone Africa.
Forex appreciation, sturdy knowledge uptake, and Airtel Cash momentum helped elevate earnings throughout markets.
The sharp improve in revenue displays increased working earnings, foreign money good points from the Nigerian naira and CFA franc appreciation, and lowered finance prices after final yr’s heavy FX losses.
Information income rose 37% in fixed foreign money to $1.16 billion, overtaking voice as Airtel’s largest income stream for the primary time.
The variety of knowledge customers elevated 18.4% to 78.1 million, whereas smartphone penetration climbed to 46.8%, driving common knowledge utilization to eight.2GB per person per 30 days.
Voice income grew 13.2% in fixed foreign money, supported by an 11% improve in whole subscribers to 173.8 million. General ARPU rose 14.8% to $2.9, reflecting worth changes and improved person engagement.
The Airtel Cash platform continued to develop quickly:
The fintech arm contributed 21% of group income, underscoring Airtel’s rising diversification past voice.
The corporate mentioned preparation for the Airtel Cash IPO stays on observe for the primary half of 2026.
Forex appreciation in East and Francophone Africa, coupled with tariff changes in Nigeria, strengthened reported efficiency.
Whole finance prices declined to $304 million (from $528 million), following the absence of outstanding FX losses seen final yr.
EBITDA margin expanded by 268 foundation factors to 48.5%, supported by price effectivity initiatives.
Airtel mentioned 95% of its working firm (OpCo) debt is now in native foreign money, decreasing overseas change publicity. Lease-adjusted leverage improved to 0.8x, from 1.0x a yr in the past.
Airtel added over 2,350 new community websites within the interval, bringing whole to 38,300, with 98.5% 4G protection and rising 5G deployment in 5 international locations.
Fibre capability expanded by 4,000 km to over 81,000 km. Capex for FY2026 has been raised to between $875m and $900m to assist this rollout and knowledge centre investments.
“Our technique has been centered on offering a superior buyer expertise and the power of those outcomes is testomony to the initiatives that we’ve been implementing throughout the enterprise,” mentioned Sunil Taldar, Chief Government Officer.
“The power of our income efficiency – up 24.5% in fixed foreign money – and additional price effectivity initiatives has continued to assist an additional improve in EBITDA margins to 49% in Q2’26…
This sturdy efficiency offers us the arrogance to extend our capex steering as we speed up investments to seize the complete potential throughout our markets and ship long-term worth for all stakeholders.”
(Supply: Airtel Africa H1 2025 outcomes launch, October 28, 2025)
Backside line:
Airtel Africa’s half-year outcomes present a significant turnaround, with knowledge and fintech operations now anchoring group profitability. Whereas development stays delicate to macroeconomic and FX situations, the corporate’s strategic investments in community enlargement and digital companies place it for regular earnings momentum into FY2026.
