Airtel Africa net profit jumps 27% to $198 million as revenue growth accelerates

Bharti Airtel’s Africa unit posted a 27% year-on-year increase in net profit to $198 million in the fiscal first quarter, boosted by higher operating profit partially offset by derivative and foreign exchange losses of $6 million in the quarter.

Net profit was also impacted by the recognition of an exceptional finance cost of $37 million following an in-principle settlement in a commercial dispute in one of the group’s subsidiaries, Airtel Africa said in a statement.

Airtel Africa’s revenue rose 21% on-year in constant currency to $1.85 billion thanks to macroeconomic tailwinds supporting currency appreciation and double-digit growth across all business segments. Tariff adjustment in Nigeria also helped boost overall revenue.


“Our continued focus on the customer experience translated into accelerating customer base growth across all business segments,” Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, Airtel Africa said.

Taldar said higher energy costs arising from recent geopolitical developments are expected to increase inflationary pressures and weigh on operating margins in the near term. The group will focus on offsetting some of its impact over the year, he said.

Airtel Africa’s operating margin increased by 131 basis points from 48.7% in the previous year to 50% in Q1FY27, helped by the company’s cost efficiency measures to improve margin resilience.

Average revenue per user or ARPU, a key performance metric, rose 1.9% sequentially to $2.7 in the June quarter, boosted by a 7.5% increase in data usage per customer to 10.6GB during the quarter and 1.3% higher average revenue per user for voice services to $1.1.

The data user base of Airtel Africa expanded 3.7% sequentially to 87.3 million, which now constitutes 46.2% of the overall customer base, up from 45.9% a year ago. The overall customer base across the telco’s 14 African markets rose 3% sequentially to 189 million.

The group’s mobile money business which is set for an initial public offering later this year, increased its annualised total processing value (TPV) by 51.5% on-year to over $245 billion in reported currency, supported by continued growth in its customer base to 56.5 million, up by 23.3% and increased engagement.

Mobile money ARPU grew 4.4% sequentially to $2.4 in the quarter ended June 2026 with the group posting a 3.5% on-year increase in the revenue from the segment to $400 million. Higher usage, the company said, was a result of deepening financial inclusion through customer adoption, broader use cases and a stronger digital payments ecosystem.

Capex for the quarter was 221% higher as compared to last year to $389 million as a result of the telco’s accelerated investment program which brought forward investment into the June quarter ahead of demand to capture opportunities in Africa’s ongoing digital transformation, the telco said.