Airtel Africa Plc has released its results for nine-month (9M) period ended December 31, 2025. The results show Airtel Africa Plc continues to demonstrate the business growth potential by delivering another strong quarterly performance.
Operating highlights…
Airtel Africa Plc customer-centric strategy continues to underpin strong operating momentum, with increased network investment, digitisation and innovative new partnerships, demonstrating tangible progress in delivering the company’s strategic priorities.
Airtel Africa Plc total customer base increased by 10 percent to 179.4 million, with data customers of 81.8 million, growing 14.6 percent.
Smartphone penetration rose another 3.9 period to 48.1 percent, with data ARPU’s growing by 16.6 percent in constant currency as data usage per customer increased to 8.6GB per month from 6.9GB in prior period, facilitated by the enhanced network investment.
Airtel Money continues to scale, with two major milestones reached in the review quarter. The first milestone saw the business exceed 50 million subscribers, reaching 52 million customers up 17.3 percent.
Secondly, annualised total processed value (TPV) for Q3’26 surpassed the $200billion threshold, with an increase of 36 percent to over $210billion. A broader ecosystem and stronger digital adoption contributed to a 9.8 percent increase in constant currency ARPU.
Financial performance…
Airtel Africa Plc revenues of $4.667billion increased by 24.6 percent in constant currency and 28.3 percent in reported currency as currency appreciation supported the strong underlying fundamentals of the business.
The strong execution of Airtel Africa Plc strategy delivered constant currency revenue growth acceleration to 24.7 percent in Q3’26, which was further supported by currency appreciation resulting in 32.9 percent reported currency revenue growth.
Mobile services revenue grew by 23.3 percent in constant currency. Data revenues, the largest contributor to group revenues, increased 36.5 percent with voice revenues growing by 13.5 percent. Mobile money revenues continue to benefit from the strong operating momentum to deliver 29.4 percent growth in constant currency.
Read also: Investment trends that will shape 2026
EBITDA grew by 35.9 percent in reported currency to $2.283 billion with EBITDA margins expanding further to 48.9 percent from 46.2 percent in the prior period.
Q3’26 saw a further sequential increase in EBITDA margins to 49.6 percent, driving EBITDA growth of 31 percent in constant currency and 40.8 percent in reported currency. The margin performance has been driven by the strong revenue growth and sustained benefits from Airtel Africa Plc cost efficiency programme.
Profit after tax of $586 million improved from $248 million in the prior period. Higher profit after tax in the current period was driven by higher operating profit and derivative and foreign exchange gains of $99 million, as compared to $153 million derivative and foreign exchange losses in the prior period.
Basic EPS of 13.1 cents compares to 4.4 cents in the prior period, predominantly reflecting the growth in operating profit and derivative and foreign exchange gains in the current period compared to losses in the prior period.
EPS before exceptional items increased from 6.2 cents in the prior period to 13.1 cents, largely reflecting the increased operating profits and derivative and foreign exchange gains in the current period.
Capital allocation…
Given the significant opportunity across Airtel Africa Plc markets, the company has accelerated its investment in-line with its revised capex guidance as previously communicated.
Capex of $603 million increased by 32.2 percent over the prior period as Airtel Africa Plc rolled out approximately 2,500 new sites and expanded our fibre network by approximately 4,000kms to 81,500+ km to enhance both coverage and capacity, supporting a strong customer experience.
Overall population coverage has reached 81.7 percent- an increase of 0.6 percent from a year ago. Leverage has improved from 2.4x to 1.9x, with lease-adjusted leverage also improving to 0.7x from 1.1x a year ago, primarily driven by the improvement in EBITDA.
Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, Airtel Africa Plc said, “These results highlight the strength of our strategy, with strong operating and financial trends across the business. During the quarter, we accelerated investment to enhance coverage and data capacity while also expanding our fibre network. Coupling this investment with innovative partnerships, strengthens our customer proposition and positions us to capture the considerable growth opportunity across our markets.”
He said, “Digitisation, technology innovation and embedding AI in our processes will also optimise the customer experience with increased digital offerings and closer integration of GSM and Airtel Money services allowing us to unlock the strong demand across our markets. Smartphone adoption continues to increase with penetration of 48.1 percent, and we are seeing solid progress in the development of our home broadband business, reflecting the need for reliable, high-speed connectivity across our markets”.
“Our push to enhance financial inclusion across the continent continues to gain momentum with our Mobile Money customer base expanding to 52 million, surpassing the 50 million milestone. Annualised total processed value of over $210 billion in Q3’26 underscores the depth of our merchants, agents and partner ecosystem, and remains a key player in driving improved access to financial services across Africa. We remain on track for the listing of Airtel Money in the first half of 2026.
“Disciplined execution on cost efficiency, alongside accelerating revenue growth has enabled another sequential improvement in our quarterly EBITDA margin to 49.6 percent, – underpinning constant currency EBITDA growth of 31 percent – and we remain focussed on driving further incremental margin improvements.
“Our strategic priorities remain clear: to keep investing in best-in-class connectivity, accelerate financial inclusion through our mobile money platform and deliver a great customer experience. These results reinforce our confidence in the long-term potential of our markets and our ability to create value for all our stakeholders,” he added.
