Airtel Africa's H1 Profit Jumps 375% as Data, Fintech Drive Growth

Airtel Africa has reported a quadruple increase in net profits in its first-half results, driven by growth in data and mobile money usage across its markets which lifted revenue to US$2.98 billion and expanded the EBITDA margin to 48.5%.

• •Profit after tax rose 375% to US$376 million, compared with US$79 million a year earlier.
• •The surge in profit was partly operational, but also reflected a swing in currency-related items, with the prior period hit by US$260 million in derivative and FX losses, while the current period recorded a US$90 million FX gain.
• •The results reinforce Nigeria’s central role in group earnings, which continues to be a strength and a concentration risk.

Regional Growth

Growth was not uniform across the portfolio.

• •Nigeria delivered +49.0% revenue growth in constant currency, with the EBITDA margin rising to 56.3% from 48.7%, supported by higher data usage and operating scale.
• •East Africa posted consistent growth of +15.6% in constant currency, led by network expansion and customer additions.
• •Francophone Africa grew +14.5%, though voice revenue declined 2.7%, indicating pricing pressure and competitive intensity in that cluster.

Most of the Group’s net exposure to FX volatility is tied to the Nigerian naira.

Data Overtakes Voice, but Mobile Money Margin Steps Down

• •Data revenue reached US$1.16 billion, surpassing voice at US$1.10 billion, driven by smartphone penetration of 46.8% and higher monthly usage per data customer (8.2 GB).
• •Mobile Money revenue increased to US$623 million, with depth of usage continuing to improve. Average transaction value per customer rose to US$318 per month, a 15.3% increase.
• •However, the Mobile Money EBITDA margin declined by 138 bps to 51.7%, due to changes in intra-group commercial arrangements between Airtel Money and the mobile services unit.
• •The shift has no impact on consolidated profit, but it reduces reported profitability of the Mobile Money segment ahead of the planned listing, clarifying its standalone economics.
• •Only 7.1% of Airtel Money customers transact via the app, signaling a large runway for further digital migration.

Operating free cash flow rose to US$1.13 billion, while net cash generated from operations increased to US$1.39 billion. Capital expenditure for the period was US$318 million.

Net debt stood at US$5.51 billion, translating to a leverage ratio of 2.1x, with lease-adjusted leverage at 0.8x.

The board declared an interim dividend of 2.84 cents per share, payable on 12 December 2025 to shareholders on record as of 7 November 2025.

Network and Infrastructure Investment Accelerating

The group raised its full-year capex guidance to US$875m–US$900m, indicating an acceleration of 4G/5G rollout and fibre deployment.

During the period, Airtel added 2,350+ new sites. 98.5% of all sites are now 4G-enabled, with 1,700+ active 5G sites and 81,000+ km of fibre installed.

Its data-centre subsidiary Nxtra is developing two hyperscale facilities:
• 44 MW Tatu City (Kenya) — expected to be the largest in Eastern Africa
• 38 MW Lagos (Nigeria) — already under construction

These support enterprise connectivity, cloud migration and rising AI/workload demand.

Airtel Africa – Q2 FY26 Performance Snapshot