Revenue for telecommunications provider Airtel Africa grew 31% to $1.85 billion in the first quarter of the year. The telco saw revenue growth across all business segments, with mobile money and mobile services growing by 25.8% and 19.1%, respectively.
Nigerian revenues grew 29.8% while East Africa and Francophone Africa grew by 17.8% and 18.0%, respectively. The telco also saw its customer case grow by 11.6% to 189 million with data customers at 87.3 million. That growth came with an increase in data usage. Data usage per customer grew from 7.8GB to 10.6GB per month over the past year as data traffic grew by 56.3%.
Airtel has previously shared plans to spin off its mobile money division and confirmed it would do so on the London Stock Exchange.
“We believe a London listing will provide access to a broader international investor base and support our ambition to unlock the long-term value of one of Africa’s leading fintech platforms,” CEO Sunil Taldar said.
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Airtel Money’s annualised total processed value (TPV) surpassed $245 billion, while its customer base grew to 56.5 million. In May 2026, Airtel launched a share buyback programme to repurchase up to 1% of its issued share capital. It has since bought back 10.2 million shares for $46.6 million, representing about 42% of the programme’s planned $110 million.
Beyond customer growth, Airtel Africa’s profitability also improved during the quarter. EBITDA rose 36.6% to $928 million, while EBITDA margin increased to 50.1% from 48.0% a year earlier. Profit after tax grew 27% to $198 million despite a $37 million exceptional finance cost related to the settlement of a commercial dispute in one of its subsidiaries.
The company also accelerated investments in its network infrastructure, spending $389 million in capital expenditure during the quarter, up from $121 million a year earlier. Airtel added more than 920 sites across its network and expanded its fibre footprint to 82,100 kilometres as it seeks to improve network quality and support growing demand for data services.
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