Airtel Africa Records 193.9m Customers, 28% Data Revenue Growth in H1 2026
Emma Okonji
Airtel Africa, which has presence in 14 African coun-tries, Nigeria inclusive, yesterday, released its half year financial result for the period ended September 30, 2026, which showed records of 193.9 million custom-ers and 28 per cent data revenue growth in the period under review.
According to the financial report, the telecoms com-pany’s total customer base continues to grow at 11.6 per cent, reaching 193.9 million customers, with a 15 per cent growth in its data customer base to 89.9 mil-lion.
The report added that demand for mobile money ser-vices remained strong, with mobile money customers increasing by 22.4 per cent to 60.9 million.
It stated, “The mobile services business continued to grow at almost 19 per cent in constant currency as da-ta revenue growth of 28 per cent continues to under-pin growth. Mobile money revenue growth in constant currency remained stable at 25.8 per cent.
“Continued execution against strategic priorities, alongside sustained investment, drove strong trends across all our regions.”
The company stated in the financial report that in-crease in smartphone penetration to 51.6 per cent continued to drive the demand for data services, re-sulting in higher smartphone data usage per customer of 13.3 GB, up from 10.1 GB in the prior period. The in-crease in data usage per customer, together with con-tinued improvements in the customer experience, drove constant currency 1 data ARPU growth of 10.7 per cent, demonstrating ability to effectively monetise growing data demand.
Giving details of the trading update in the period under review, Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Africa, Sunil Taldar, said, “The recent IPO of Airtel Money represents a significant milestone for the Group. We retained our shareholding through the IPO and remain a long-term strategic shareholder, with significant exposure to Airtel Money’s future growth and value creation.
“Over the first half, we have delivered another strong operating and financial performance, reflecting the depth of underlying demand across our markets and consistent execution of our strategy, with total customer growth remaining strong and stable at 11.6 per cent.”
Taldar added, “The investment case remains as com-pelling as ever, supported by favourable demographic and economic trends, strong demand for data and fi-nancial services, and smartphones on our network in-creasing to over 100 million, with substantial head-room for further adoption.”
However, Taldar said rising fuel costs continued to exert inflationary pressure on the cost base.
He said, “We delivered a record underlying EBITDA margin of 50.4 per cent in Q2’27 through a combination of operational discipline, ongoing cost efficiency programmes and continued scale benefits. Looking ahead, margin performance will continue to be influenced by the macroeconomic environment, including its impact on fuel costs.
“Our confidence in the growth trajectory of the business and the significant long-term opportunity across our markets underpins our decision to accelerate investment.”
