In its first quarter, Airtel Africa recorded a pre-tax profit of $273 million, representing a 269 per cent year-on-year growth.
According to the report for the period ended June 30, the firm disclosed that it equally sustained investments in network expansion with the rollout of over 2300 new sites to reach 37579 sites and an expansion of the fibre network by 2,700km to over 79,600km.
Indeed, the $273 million profit accounted for 41 per cent of the group’s total pre-tax profit for the full financial year ended March 31, 2025.
According to the report, profit after tax rose to $156 million, a 408 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, and 48 per cent of the prior full-year post-tax earnings.
Airtel Africa said its revenue climbed to $1.415 billion, which is 24.9 per cent in constant currency and 22.4 per cent in reported currency, as the group benefited from easing currency headwinds over the last three quarters.
According to the report, the acceleration in constant currency revenue growth from the previous quarter was driven by tariff adjustments in Nigeria and a strong performance in Francophone Africa, reflecting effective execution of its customer-focused strategy.
Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Sunil Taldar, stated: “We are very pleased with the strong growth in our operating and financial performance in the first quarter. The strength of this performance and the scale of the growth we achieved reflect the sustained demand for our services and the strength of our business model to meet these demands.
“Operationally, the acceleration in customer base growth to nine per cent, and 17.4 per cent growth in our data customers to 75.6 million reflects the strong on-ground execution with a relentless focus on digitisation and the simplification of the customer experience.”
He said the firm’s strategy is to continue to prioritise the customer experience, as demonstrated by the launch of Airtel Spam Alert—an AI-powered solution aimed at enhancing trust and delivering a safer network environment.
According to him, this underscores our commitment to leveraging technology to lower barriers to smartphone adoption, adding that with smartphone penetration at only 45.9 per cent, we see significant headroom to drive further adoption and play a key role in bridging the digital divide.
“Mobile money remains a cornerstone of our current and future growth proposition. With our customer base approaching 46 million and expanding by over 16 per cent, we see significant potential to further advance financial inclusion through the continued growth of our financial services offering. The continued expansion of our mobile money portfolio and the advancement of enterprise and digital payments contributed to a 35 per cent growth in annualised transaction value to $162 billion.
We will continue to focus on technology and the range of product offerings to deliver a differentiated experience for our customers.
“The provision of these essential services and the strategic focus on providing a great customer experience underpinned the acceleration in constant currency revenue growth to 24.9 per cent, translating into reported currency revenue growth of over 22 per cent as currencies stabilise.
This strong revenue performance and continued cost efficiencies contributed to further EBITDA margin expansion, which resulted in strong EBITDA growth of approximately 30 per cent, and we remain focused on further margin improvements, subject to macroeconomic stability. With a strong balance sheet and sustained network investment, I remain confident about our ability to capture the available growth potential across our markets and remain committed to efficiently and effectively delivering services that help to improve the lives, communities and economies we serve.”
