Africa’s leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services across 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, announced on Tuesday a period of explosive growth, reporting a profit after tax of $376 million for the half year ended 30 September 2025 from $79 million in the prior period. The landmark performance was primarily fueled by surging demand for digital services, resulting in data revenue officially surpassing traditional voice revenue for the first time.
Airtel Africa plc delivered a massive surge in profitability, driven by accelerating growth in its data and mobile money segments, with data revenue officially surpassing voice as the largest contributor to the Group’s top line.
According to it’s financial report on Tuesday, the results reflect the success of the company’s customer-centric strategy, which focuses on digital inclusion and targeted network investments.
Sunil Taldar, Chief Executive Officer, commented on the strong performance: “This strong performance gives us the confidence to increase our capex guidance for this financial year… as we accelerate our investments to capture the full potential across our markets and deliver long-term value for all stakeholders”.
The company reported a dramatic increase in its financial metrics:
- Profit after Tax (PAT) saw a monumental improvement, rising to $376 million from $79 million in the prior period, a surge of 375.3%. This improvement was predominantly driven by strong operating profit growth and a $90 million derivative and foreign exchange gain in the current period, compared to significant losses in the prior year.
- Total Revenue grew strongly by 24.5% in constant currency (CC) to $2.98 billion.
- EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortisation) increased by 31.5% (CC) to $1.44 billion. The EBITDA margin expanded significantly to 48.5% for the half year, reflecting operating momentum and continued cost efficiency.
- Basic Earnings Per Share (EPS) jumped from 0.8 cents to 8.3 cents, reflecting both operating growth and the foreign exchange gains.
According to the report data revenue grew by 37.0% (CC) to $1.1billion officially becoming the Group’s largest revenue component, surpassing voice revenue, which grew by 13.2% (CC). total data customer base expanded by 18.4% to 78.1 million.
Smartphone penetration increased by another 3.8 percentage points to 46.8%, fueling a 45.0% increase in data traffic across the network.
- Mobile Money (Airtel Money) Momentum: The segment continues to drive financial inclusion, with its customer base accelerating 20% to reach 49.8 million. Mobile Money revenue grew by 30.2% (CC).
The Group is accelerating its network investments and strategic partnerships to capitalise on market opportunities
Capital expenditure (Capex) guidance for the full financial year (FY’26) has been raised to between $875 million and $900 million to accelerate investments across its markets.
Airtel rolled out over 2,350 new sites and expanded its fibre network by approximately 4,000 kms to over 81,000 kms, with 98.5% of sites now 4G-enabled.
In August 2025, Airtel Africa announced a major network infrastructure sharing agreement with Vodacom Group in key markets, including Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This follows a previous agreement with MTN in March 2025.
In May 2025, the company announced a partnership with SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed internet services to customers in Africa, enhancing connectivity for enterprises and rural communities.
The Board declared an interim dividend of 2.84 cents per share, an increase of 9.2%. The $100 million share buy-back programme remains on track to complete by 31 March 2026.
