Airtel Africa profit more than doubles to $813 million

The Tip Desk · June 9, 2026 · 2 min read

The telecommunications and mobile money provider reported a 280 basis point expansion in EBITDA margin to 49.3% [2].

Airtel Africa, a provider of telecommunications and mobile money services in 14 sub-Saharan African countries, reported that profit after tax more than doubled to $813 million. The company said reported revenue grew 29.5% to $6,415 million, while constant currency revenue rose 24.0%.

Operating performance was driven by growth across all service segments. Data revenue reached $2,530 million, representing a 29.2% five-year compound annual growth rate in constant currency. Mobile money revenue grew to $1,355 million, with a five-year constant currency CAGR of 29.6%. Voice services contributed $2,318 million in revenue.

Digital adoption accelerated as the total customer base reached 183.5 million. Data customers grew to 78.1 million, an 18.4% increase, while the Airtel Money customer base rose 20% to 49.8 million. The company reported that annualised total processed value for Q2'26 increased 35.9% to surpass $193 billion.

Infrastructure expansion supported these gains. The company increased its site count to 40,378 and expanded its connecting fibre network by 3,200 km to 81,900 km. Population coverage for 4G reached 75.6%.

Financial stability improved through debt localisation and higher earnings. The proportion of local currency operating company debt on the balance sheet rose to 95% from 89% a year ago. Lease-adjusted leverage improved to 0.8x from 1.0x. Net cash generated from operating activities rose 41.8% to $1,388 million.

Capital allocation included a share buyback programme to return $100 million to shareholders. As of 30 September 2025, the company had returned $34.7 million through the purchase of 14.2 million shares in the second tranche of the programme. The company entered arrangements with Barclays Capital Securities Limited to return the remaining $20.3 million by 31 March 2026.

The company is increasing investment to enhance network capacity and expand into enterprise and home broadband. For the current financial year, the company increased its capex guidance to between $875 million and $900 million. The board recommended a final dividend of 4.26 cents per share.