London: TECHz – News Desk
Airtel Africa has reported a strong start to its 2026/27 financial year, posting double-digit revenue and profit growth for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The robust performance was driven by surging data usage, accelerated smartphone adoption, and the continued expansion of its Airtel Money platform.
For the first quarter, Airtel Africa saw its consolidated revenue jump by 31.0% to $1,853 million in reported currency. On a constant currency basis, revenue grew by 21.1%, supported by double-digit growth across all business segments and macroeconomic tailwinds that supported currency appreciation. Constant currency EBITDA increased by 24.4%, with reported currency EBITDA reaching $928 million, representing a 36.6% increase. The EBITDA margin improved by 206 basis points to 50.1%, reflecting the success of ongoing cost optimization programs despite energy cost inflation. Profit climbed 27.0% to $198 million, up from $156 million in the same period last year.
This increase was driven by higher operating profit, though it was partially offset by a $37 million exceptional finance cost linked to an in-principle commercial dispute settlement and $6 million in foreign exchange losses. Basic earnings per share (EPS) increased from 3.4 cents to 4.4 cents, while EPS before exceptional items rose to 5.4 cents.
Airtel Africa’s continued focus on customer experience translated into accelerated growth across all segments. The total customer base grew by 11.6% to reach 189 million. Smartphone penetration reached a critical milestone of 51.0%, enabling a significant shift in digital adoption. This drove data customers up 15.5% to 87.3 million. Data usage per customer surged from 7.8 GB to 10.6 GB per month, resulting in a 56.3% increase in total network data traffic and underpinning a 27.2% constant currency growth in data revenue.
Voice services also performed well, recording 11.2% constant currency revenue growth. To support this demand and capture opportunities in digital transformation, the company accelerated its capital expenditure to $389 million, up from $121 million in the prior period. It deployed over 920 new sites – marking its highest first-quarter rollout on record – and expanded its fiber network to 82,100 kilometers.
The company’s mobile money segment proved to be a major growth engine, with Airtel Money revenue climbing 25.8% in constant currency. The platform expanded its customer base by 23.3% to 56.5 million users. Increased engagement, deepening financial inclusion, and broader use cases drove the annualized total processed value (TPV) up 51.5% to over $245 billion in reported currency. Mobile money average revenue per user (ARPU) grew by 4.4% sequentially to $2.40 during the quarter.
As Airtel Africa enters its next phase of growth, the company has officially confirmed London as its preferred listing venue for the proposed initial public offering of the Airtel Money platform.
