Airtel Africa plc has announced impressive results for the quarter ended 30 June 2025, demonstrating robust operating momentum and financial performance across its 14 markets.
The Group’s consistent execution of its customer-focused strategy resulted in solid growth across key metrics, further strengthening its role as a leading telecom and mobile money provider in Africa.
Operational Highlights
- Customer Base Growth: Airtel Africa’s total customer base rose by 9% year-on-year to 4 million, driven by strategic expansion and a commitment to closing the digital divide.
- Surge in Data Adoption: Data customers grew by 4% to 75.6 million, with data usage up 47.4%, reflecting growing smartphone adoption (now at 45.9%) and network reliability. Data ARPU rose by 18.5% in constant currency.
- Mobile Money Momentum: Airtel Money customers grew by 1% to 45.8 million, with annualised transaction values increasing 35% to $162 billion. Mobile money ARPU grew 11.3%, as customers engaged more with financial services.
- Network Expansion: Airtel added 2,300 new sites, increasing its total to 37,579, and extended its fibre network by 2,700km, enhancing 4G coverage to 7%.
Financial Performance
- Revenue Growth: Group revenue rose by 9% in constant currency and 22.4% in reported currency, reaching $1.415 billion. The acceleration was fuelled by tariff adjustments in Nigeria and strong performance in Francophone markets.
- Mobile Services: Mobile service revenue increased 8%, with voice and data contributing 13.9% and 38.1% growth respectively.
- Mobile Money Revenue: Saw a 3% growth in constant currency, driven by product expansion and customer growth.
- EBITDA Performance: EBITDA rose by 8% to $679 million, with margins expanding to 48.0%, aided by stable fuel prices and continued cost optimisation.
- Profit After Tax: Jumped to $156 million from $31 million in Q1 2025, boosted by operating gains and favourable FX movement in the CFA region.
- Earnings Per Share (EPS): Basic EPS rose to 4 cents, up from 0.2 cents, highlighting strong bottom-line improvement.
Capital and Investment Focus
- Airtel spent $121 million in capital expenditure, with full-year guidance maintained at $725m–$750m.
- The Group continued its debt localisation strategy, now with 95% of OpCo debt in local currency (up from 86%).
- Leverage increased to 2x due to lease revaluations, while lease-adjusted leverage remained steady at 0.9x.
- Share Buyback: $16.9 million returned to shareholders via purchase of 7.1 million shares under its $55 million programme.
Commenting on the results, Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa, said:
“We are very pleased with our strong growth this quarter. The 9% expansion in customer base and 17.4% increase in data users show our strategic focus on digitisation and customer experience is working. Our AI-powered Airtel Spam Alert service is one example of how we’re enhancing network trust and accelerating smartphone adoption.
Mobile Money remains central to our growth story. With nearly 46 million customers and $162 billion in annualised transaction value, we are advancing financial inclusion across our markets.
Our 24.9% constant currency revenue growth, coupled with rising margins and cost efficiencies, reflects our ability to deliver consistent value despite macroeconomic headwinds. Backed by a strong balance sheet and continued investment, we’re confident in our path forward to support digital and financial empowerment across Africa.”
