Airtel Africa adds 16 million customers

Airtel Africa has added more than 16 million customers in the nine months to December 2025, driven by growth in mobile data and mobile money services, according to the company’s results for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2025, issued on 30 January 2026.

The telecoms group reported that its total customer base increased by 10% to 179.4 million, with data customers rising 14.6% to 81.8 million. Smartphone penetration climbed to 48.1%, while average monthly data usage per customer rose to 8.6 gigabytes, up from 6.9 gigabytes in the prior period.

Airtel Money, the company’s mobile financial services platform, also expanded rapidly. Subscribers rose 17.3% to 52 million, surpassing the 50-million milestone.

Annualized transaction volumes for the third quarter exceeded $210 billion, reflecting the growing adoption of digital payments across the continent.

The company’s financial performance strengthened alongside its customer growth. Revenues reached $4.667 billion, up 24.6% in constant currency and 28.3% in reported currency, boosted by currency appreciation and strong operational execution.

Mobile services revenue grew 23.3% in constant currency, led by a 36.5% increase in data revenue and a 13.5% rise in voice revenue. Mobile money revenue rose 29.4% in constant currency.

EBITDA rose to $2.283 billion, up 35.9% in reported currency, with margins expanding to 48.9%. For the third quarter alone, margins increased to 49.6%, supported by revenue growth and cost efficiency programmes. Profit after tax more than doubled to $586 million, from $248 million previously.

Basic earnings per share increased to 13.1 cents, up from 4.4 cents, while EPS before exceptional items also reached 13.1 cents.

Airtel Africa increased its capital spending, investing $603 million to roll out around 2,500 new sites and expand its fibre network by 4,000 kilometres to over 81,500 km.

This brought population coverage to 81.7%, up 0.6% from a year ago. The company also reduced its leverage, with net debt to EBITDA falling from 2.4x to 1.9x.

Commenting on the results, CEO Sunil Taldar said the company’s strategy was delivering strong operating and financial results.

“We accelerated investment to enhance coverage and data capacity while 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

Taldar added that digitisation, technology innovation, and integration of GSM and Airtel Money services were improving the customer experience. He also noted the company remains on track for the Airtel Money listing in the first half of 2026.

Airtel Africa operates in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, providing mobile voice, data, and mobile money services.

 The company offers an integrated service to subscribers nationally and internationally, and its strategy focuses on providing a great customer experience across its footprint, enabling its corporate purpose of transforming lives across Africa.