Dar es Salaam. Airtel Africa has reported a strong start to its 2026/27 financial year, with first-quarter revenue rising by thirty-one percent as growing demand for mobile data and digital financial services continued to drive growth across its operations.
The telecommunications company, which operates in 14 African countries, including Tanzania, said revenue for the quarter ended June 30 increased to $1.853 billion, up from $1.415 billion recorded during the same period last year.
Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Mr. Sunil Taldar, said profit after tax rose 27 percent to $198 million, while revenue in constant currency grew by 21.1percent, reflecting sustained growth across voice, data and mobile money services.
Regional performance remained strong, with revenue in Nigeria increasing 29.8 percent, while East Africa and Francophone Africa recorded growth of 17.8 percent and 18 percent, respectively.
The company also expanded its customer base by 11.6 percent to 189 million subscribers. Data customers increased by 15.5 percent to 87.3 million, while mobile money customers grew by 23.3 percent to 56.5 million, supported by rising smartphone adoption and greater use of digital services.
Smartphone penetration reached 51 percent, while average monthly data usage per customer increased from 7.8 gigabytes to 10.6 gigabytes over the past year. The rise in data consumption helped drive a 56.3 percent increase in overall data traffic.
Airtel Africa said the annualised transaction value processed through Airtel Money exceeded $245 billion, representing a 51.5 percent increase compared with the previous year. Mobile money revenue rose by 38.9 percent to $404 million, highlighting the growing importance of digital financial services to the company's business.
"We have started this year with another pleasing performance," Mr. Taldar said.
He attributed the results to higher smartphone adoption, stronger customer engagement with digital services and continued investment in network infrastructure across the company's markets.
To meet growing demand, Airtel Africa increased capital expenditure during the quarter, investing $389 million to strengthen its network. The company deployed more than 920 new sites, the highest first-quarter rollout in its history, while extending its fibre network to 82,100 kilometres to improve coverage, capacity and service quality.
Despite the increased investment, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 36.6 percent to $928 million, with the EBITDA margin improving to 50.1 percent.
Net cash generated from operating activities increased by 38.3 percent to $786 million, reflecting resilient underlying operations despite higher energy costs.
Looking ahead, Mr. Taldar said Airtel Africa remains on track to pursue a London listing for its Airtel Money business, subject to regulatory approvals, as the company seeks to unlock long-term value and broaden access to international investors.
