Half-year Report

Airtel Africa plc

Results for half year ended 30 September 2026

30 October 2026

Delivering sustainable and profitable growth while investing for the future

Operating highlights

• Continued investment in our network and digital capabilities is supporting increased customer adoption across all segments. Our total customer base continued to grow at 11.6%, reaching 193.9 million customers, with a 15% growth in our data customer base to 89.9 million. Demand for mobile money services remains strong, with mobile money customers increasing by 22.4% to 60.9 million.
• The increase in smartphone penetration to 51.6% continued to drive the demand for data services, resulting in higher smartphone data usage per customer of 13.3 GB, up from 10.1 GB in the prior period. The increase in data usage per customer, together with continued improvements in the customer experience, drove constant currency[1] data ARPU growth of 10.7%, demonstrating our ability to effectively monetise growing data demand.
• The structural drivers of financial inclusion across Africa continue to support strong demand for mobile money services, underpinned by enhanced distribution, accessible digital products and increased customer engagement. Continued ecosystem expansion and digital adoption drove annualised total processed value (TPV) growth of 36.5% to $275bn in Q2’27.

Financial performance

• Reported currency revenues reached $3,823m in H1’27, an increase of 28.2%, while in constant currency revenue grew by 20.8%. The sustained growth across all our regions and business segments reflects the structural growth opportunity and further evidence of our continued execution against this opportunity. The mobile services business continued to grow at almost 19% in constant currency as data revenue growth of 28% continues to underpin growth. Mobile money revenue growth in constant currency remained stable at 25.8%.
• Continued execution against our strategic priorities, alongside sustained investment, drove strong trends across all our regions.  In Francophone Africa, constant currency revenue growth accelerated to 20.3% in Q2’27, with Nigeria growing by 24.4% and East Africa by 18.6%.
• Despite increased inflationary pressure from higher fuel costs, underlying EBITDA margins remained resilient at 50.3%, with margins at an all-time high of 50.4% in Q2’27 – a 144 bps increase over the previous period. This strong performance reflects the benefits of continued growth at scale, driving operating leverage and supporting margin expansion, further reinforced by our cost efficiency programme.
• Profit after tax of $452m improved from $376m in the prior period reflecting the continued strength of the underlying operating performance, despite higher finance costs and lower foreign exchange and derivative gains during the period. In the current period, profit after tax was impacted by exceptional items of $55m relating to an in-principle settlement in one of the Group’s subsidiaries and Airtel Money IPO expenses.
• Basic EPS increased to 10.2 cents from 8.3 cents. Excluding the impact of the exceptional items and the lower foreign exchange and derivative gains in the current period, EPS increased to 11.8 cents from 6.9 cents.

Capital allocation

• Capex of $657m during the period more than doubled reflecting our commitment to accelerate capex spend to reinforce our market position and support sustainable and profitable growth. During the period, we added approximately 4,200 sites, bringing forward investment to enhance coverage and capacity, while supporting the development of new businesses, including home broadband (HBB).
• Leverage has improved from 2.1x to 1.6x, with lease-adjusted leverage also improving to 0.5x from 0.8x in the previous period, primarily driven by the improvement in underlying EBITDA.
• The Board has declared an interim dividend of 3.1 cents per share, an increase of 9.2%, in line with our dividend policy. Furthermore, we returned $108.7m to shareholders through our share buyback programme during the period.

 

Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, on the trading update:

“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%. The investment case remains as compelling as ever, supported by favourable demographic and economic trends, strong demand for data and financial services, and smartphones on our network increasing to over 100 million, with substantial headroom for further adoption. We are increasingly leveraging AI across the business to deepen customer understanding, accelerate innovation, simplify customer journeys and strengthen the detection of fraud and emerging threats. Combined with our ability to utilise our network, distribution and customer relationships to develop new businesses, these structural drivers underpin our confidence in the Group’s long-term growth prospects.

Despite rising fuel costs continuing to exert inflationary pressure on our cost base, we delivered a record underlying EBITDA margin of 50.4% 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. During the period, we increased the pace of network investment to expand capacity and enhance service quality, positioning the business to capture an increasing share of future growth.

Our mobile money business continues to deliver strong growth and remains a key driver of financial inclusion across our markets, supported by sustained customer acquisition, increasing transaction volumes and ongoing expansion of its product ecosystem. Our mobile money and mobile services businesses will continue to work closely together to capture shared growth opportunities, realise operational synergies and deliver enhanced value for customers across our markets.

Supported by a strong balance sheet and robust cash generation, we remain confident in the opportunities ahead. As more customers embrace digital services and financial inclusion, our continued focus on execution and customer experience positions us to deliver sustainable growth at scale and long-term value for shareholders.”

 

GAAP measures (Half year ended)
Description	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency
	$m	$m	change
Revenue	3,823	2,982	28.2%
Operating profit	1,286	959	34.2%
Profit after tax	452	376	20.5%
Basic EPS ($ cents)	10.2	8.3	23.3%
Net cash generated from operating activities	1,759	1,388	26.7%

 

Alternative performance measures (APM)[2] (Half year ended)
Description	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency	Constant currency
	$m	$m	change	change
Revenue	3,823	2,982	28.2%	20.8%
Underlying EBITDA	1,921	1,447	32.8%	23.5%
Underlying EBITDA margin	50.3%	48.5%	172 bps	109 bps
EPS before exceptional items ($ cents)	11.7	8.3	41.2%
Operating free cash flow	1,264	1,129	12.0%

About Airtel Africa

Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecommunications and mobile money services, with operations in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Airtel Africa provides an integrated offer to its subscribers, including mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money services both nationally and internationally.

The company's strategy is focused on providing a great customer experience across the entire footprint, enabling our corporate purpose of transforming lives across Africa.

 

Enquiries

Airtel Africa – investor relations Alastair Jones [email protected]	+44 7464 830 011 +44 207 493 9315
Hudson Sandler Nick Lyon Nelly Apaka [email protected]	+44 207 796 4133

 

 

Conference call

Management will host an analyst and investor presentation at 12:00pm UK time (GMT) on Friday 30 October 2026, including a ‘Question-and-Answer’ session.

To follow on the webcast, please register beforehand using the following link:

Webcast registration link

If you are unable to use the webcast for the event, or if you intend to participate in Q&A during the call, please register for the conference call using the following link:

Conference call registration link

 

 

 

 

 

Key consolidated financial information

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change %	Constant currency change %	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change %	Constant currency change %
Profit and loss summary
Revenue1	$m	3,823	2,982	28.2%	20.8%	1,970	1,567	25.7%	20.6%
Voice revenue	$m	1,296	1,100	17.9%	11.1%	657	567	15.7%	11.0%
Data revenue	$m	1,571	1,161	35.3%	28.0%	821	612	34.2%	28.7%
Mobile money revenue2	$m	840	623	34.8%	25.8%	437	333	31.3%	25.8%
Other revenue	$m	257	227	13.2%	7.6%	127	119	6.6%	2.5%
Expenses	$m	(1,906)	(1,549)	23.1%	17.5%	(978)	(807)	21.2%	17.6%
Underlying EBITDA3	$m	1,921	1,447	32.8%	23.5%	993	768	29.4%	22.7%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	50.3%	48.5%	172 bps	109 bps	50.4%	49.0%	144 bps	87 bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(616)	(488)	26.2%	20.1%	(315)	(255)	23.9%	19.8%
Operating exceptional items6	$m	(19)	-			(19)	-
Operating profit	$m	1,286	959	34.2%	23.4%	659	513	28.5%	20.6%
Other finance cost – net of finance income4	$m	(440)	(304)	44.9%		(208)	(131)	59.0%
Finance cost – exceptional items5	$m	(37)	-			-	-
Total finance cost (net)	$m	(477)	(304)	57.1%		(208)	(131)	59.0%
Net monetary gain/(loss) relating to hyperinflationary accounting	$m	5	(0)			3	1
Profit before tax	$m	814	656	24.2%		454	383	18.5%
Tax	$m	(363)	(280)	29.3%		(201)	(164)	22.5%
Tax – exceptional items6	$m	1	-			1	-
Total tax charge	$m	(362)	(280)	29.1%		(200)	(164)	22.0%
Profit after tax	$m	452	376	20.5%		254	219	15.9%
Non-controlling interest	$m	(81)	(73)	12.2%		(43)	(42)	1.9%
Profit attributable to owners of the company – before exceptional items	$m	425	303	40.5%		228	177	28.6%
Profit attributable to owners of the company	$m	371	303	22.7%		211	177	19.1%
EPS – before exceptional items	cents	11.7	8.3	41.2%		6.3	4.9	29.2%
Basic EPS	cents	10.2	8.3	23.3%		5.8	4.9	19.7%
Weighted average number of shares	million	3,638	3,654	(0.4%)		3,631	3,648	(0.5%)
Capex	$m	657	318	106.5%		268	197	35.8%
Operating free cash flow	$m	1,264	1,129	12.0%		725	571	27.1%
Net cash generated from operating activities	$m	1,759	1,388	26.7%		973	820	18.7%
Net debt	$m	5,870	5,512			5,870	5,512
Leverage (net debt to underlying EBITDA)	times	1.6x	2.1x			1.6x	2.1x
Lease-adjusted leverage	times	0.5x	0.8x			0.5x	0.8x
Return on capital employed	%	25.7%	20.3%	543 bps		25.7%	20.0%	569 bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	3.4	2.9	15.0%	8.4%	3.4	3.1	12.2%	7.6%
Total customer base	million	193.9	173.8	11.6%		193.9	173.8	11.6%
Data customer base	million	89.9	78.1	15.0%		89.9	78.1	15.0%
Mobile money customer base	million	60.9	49.8	22.4%		60.9	49.8	22.4%

All commentary in the footnotes refers to the half year ended 30 September 2026 and the prior period (30 September 2025) unless otherwise stated.

 

1.      Revenue includes inter-segment eliminations of $141m and $129m for the prior period.
2.      Mobile money revenue post inter-segment eliminations with mobile services were $699m and $494m for the prior period.
3.      Underlying EBITDA includes other income of $4m and $14m for the prior period.
4.      Other finance cost - net of finance income includes derivative and foreign exchange gains of $2m and $90m in the current period and prior period respectively.
5.      Finance cost - exceptional items of $37m relates to an in-principle settlement of a commercial dispute in one of the Group’s subsidiaries in Q1’27.
6.      Operating exceptional items of $19m and corresponding tax – exceptional items gain of $1m in the current period relates to Airtel Money IPO expenses.

 

 

Financial review for the half year ended 30 September 2026

Revenue

Group revenue in reported currency increased by 28.2% to $3,823m, with constant currency growth of 20.8%. Reported currency revenue growth was higher than constant currency growth reflecting currency appreciation in Nigeria and Zambia. Constant currency revenue growth was driven by Nigeria growth of 27.0%, East Africa growth of 18.2% and a strong performance in Francophone Africa, which saw revenue growth accelerate to 19.2% in the current period and over 20% in quarter ended 30 September 2026.

Mobile services revenue of $3,141m increased by 25.9% in reported currency and by 18.9% in constant currency. Constant currency growth was led by voice revenue growth of 11.1% and data revenue growth of 28.0%. Mobile money revenues grew by 34.8% in reported currency and by 25.8% in constant currency, driven by customer growth of 22.4% to 60.9 million and ARPU rising by 2.6% to $2.5.

In Nigeria, reported currency revenues grew by 45.0%, and by 27.0% in constant currency. Higher reported currency growth compared to constant currency was due to appreciation of the Nigerian naira from a weighted average NGN/USD rate of 1,553 in prior period to NGN/USD 1,360 in current period. In East Africa, reported currency revenue grew by 24.8% which is also higher as compared to 18.2% constant currency growth primarily due to significant appreciation in the Zambian kwacha. Francophone Africa reported currency revenue growth was 19.6%, in line with constant currency revenue growth of 19.2%.

Underlying EBITDA[3]

Reported currency underlying EBITDA grew by 32.8% to $1,921m while in constant currency underlying EBITDA increased by 23.5%. Reflecting the continued success of our cost efficiency programme, underlying EBITDA margins have increased by 172 bps in the current period to reach 50.3%. In Q2’27 underlying EBITDA margins expanded further to 50.4% compared to 50.1% in previous quarter.

Mobile services underlying EBITDA increased by 32.7% in reported currency with underlying EBITDA margins of 50.5%, an increase of 258 bps. Mobile money underlying EBITDA margins of 48.9% declined by 287 bps in reported currency, primarily due to the renegotiation of intra-group agreements, which had no impact on the consolidated Group’s margin. 

Operating profit

Operating profit in reported currency increased by 34.2% to $1,286m, largely driven by underlying EBITDA growth of 32.8% in reported currency.

Finance costs

Total finance costs (net) for the half year ended 30 September 2026 were $477m, compared to $304m in the prior period. Finance costs for current period were impacted by a $37m cost related to the Group reaching an in-principle settlement with respect to a commercial dispute in one of the Group’s subsidiaries and was recognised as an exceptional item in finance cost. Furthermore, finance cost in current period benefitted from $2m of derivative and foreign exchange gains (reflecting the revaluation of US dollar balance sheet liabilities and derivatives following currency appreciation), compared to $90m gains in prior period. As a result, finance costs, excluding derivative and foreign exchange gains and exceptional items, increased from $394m in prior period to $442m in current period, primarily reflecting the increase in interest on lease liabilities, following the sites rollout.

The Group ended the current period with a weighted average interest rate of 10.1% which decreased by 231 bps from 12.4% in the prior period.

Exceptional items

Operating exceptional items of $19m in the current period relates to costs associated with the listing of Airtel Mobile Commerce N.V. (Airtel Money).

Exceptional items within finance costs amounted to $37m in the current period, relating to the Group reaching an in-principle settlement in respect of a commercial dispute in one of the Group’s subsidiaries.

 

Profit before tax

Profit before tax was $814m for the half year ended 30 September 2026 as compared to $656m in the prior period. Higher profit before tax in the current period as compared to the prior period was on account of higher operating profit partially offset by higher finance costs and operating exceptional items as well as lower derivative and foreign exchange gains in the current period as discussed above.

Taxation

Total tax charges were $362m as compared to $280m in the prior period. Tax charges increased by $82m largely driven by the higher profit before tax in the current period and withholding taxes on dividends paid by subsidiaries.

The effective tax rate was 40.2% compared to 40.1% in the previous financial year.

The effective tax rate is higher than the weighted average statutory corporate tax rate of approximately 32%, largely due to the profit mix between various OpCos and withholding taxes on dividends paid by subsidiaries.

Profit after tax

Profit after tax was $452m during the half year ended 30 September 2026 as compared to $376m in the prior period.

Earnings per share (EPS)

Basic EPS of 10.2 cents compares to 8.3 cents in the prior period, predominantly reflecting higher operating profits in the current period.

EPS before exceptional items[4] increased from 8.3 cents in the prior period to 11.7 cents in current period. EPS before exceptional items and derivative and foreign exchange gains increased from 6.9 cents in the prior period to 11.8 cents in the current period.

Net cash generated from operating activities

Net cash generated from operating activities was $1,759m, which is 26.7% higher compared to $1,388m in the prior period, primarily reflecting the strong operating performance with underlying EBITDA growth of 32.8% in reported currency.

Operating free cash flow

Operating free cash flow of $1,264m, increased by 12.0%, reflecting the continued strong growth in underlying EBITDA during the period. In-line with our strategy to accelerate the pace of deployment, capital expenditure increased to $657m from $318m in prior period.

Leverage

Lease-adjusted leverage improved to 0.5x (from 0.8x) and leverage to 1.6x (from 2.1x), primarily driven by the improvement in underlying EBITDA.

 

 

Other significant updates

 

Airtel Mobile Commerce N.V. (‘Airtel Money’) lists on London Stock Exchange

On 14 October 2026, Airtel Money was admitted to the Equity Shares (Commercial Companies) category of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (‘LSE’). The IPO on the LSE represents a significant milestone in Airtel Money's evolution, establishing an independent listed platform to support its long-term growth ambitions and enhance its profile among global investors. The listing involved the offer of 270 million existing shares (10% of the issued share capital) at a price of £1.96. Airtel Africa did not sell any shares in the secondary offering and has retained its 77.85% shareholding. An over-allotment option of up to 27 million additional shares remains open during the stabilisation period, and its outcome will be announced in due course.

Following the IPO, Airtel Africa remains a long-term strategic shareholder and continues to benefit from Airtel Money's attractive growth opportunities, while the listing provides additional financial flexibility to support the business's future development and expansion across Africa.

Following the successful listing of Airtel Money on the LSE, the put option previously held by minority shareholders of Airtel Money will no longer be exercisable. However, due to the IPO being a post balance sheet event, the put option liability continues to be recognised as of 30 September 2026.

Update on share buyback programme

On 22 May 2026, Airtel Africa announced the launch of a share buyback programme to repurchase up to 1% of its issued share capital, reflecting the strength of its balance sheet and commitment to shareholder returns while maintaining flexibility to invest in growth opportunities across its markets. As an initial tranche, the Company entered into an agreement with Barclays Capital Securities Limited (“Barclays”). This tranche was completed in accordance with its terms on 28 September 2026.

As part of the first tranche, the Company returned $108.7m to shareholders through the repurchase of 24.5 million shares, utilising 0.67% of the 1% share repurchase authority approved by the Board.

Kenya spectrum acquisition

Airtel Kenya acquired 100 MHz of spectrum in the 3500 MHz band for $65 million for a 25-year term, following the approval from the Communications Authority of Kenya, subject to standard conditions.

Directorate changes

Following the conclusion of the AGM on 9 July 2026, Sunil Bharti Mittal has retired as chair of the Board and Gopal Vittal was appointed non-executive chair of the Board with effect from the same date. Furthermore, Shravin Bharti Mittal assumed the role of deputy chair, and Annika Poutiainen retired as a non-executive director.

On 22 July 2026, the Group announced the appointment of Mr. V.K. Viswanathan as an independent non-executive director with effect from the same date. Mr. Viswanathan will also join the Audit and Risk Committee.

Nigeria licence renewal

On 15 April 2026, the Group’s subsidiary Airtel Networks Limited (‘Airtel Nigeria’) received confirmation from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on the terms of its 900MHz spectrum renewal for $37m, payable in local currency. The licence will be valid for a period of ten years, following the expiry of the previous licence.

 

 

Dividend payment timetable

The board has declared an interim dividend of 3.1 cents for the half year ended 30 September 2026, payable on 11 December 2026 to shareholders recorded in the register at the close of business on 13 November 2026.

      London Stock Exchange (LSE) Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX)

Last day to trade shares cum dividend  11 November 2026  12 November 2026

Shares commence trading ex-dividend  12 November 2026  13 November 2026

Record date (NGX settlement date)  13 November 2026  13 November 2026

Last date for currency election   23 November 2026  23 November 2026

Payment date     11 December 2026  11 December 2026

 

Information on additional KPIs

Our investor relations pack with information on the additional KPIs and balance sheet is available to download on www.airtel.africa

 

 

Strategic overview

The Group provides telecom and mobile money services in 14 markets across Africa. Our markets are characterised by a young and rapidly growing population, low smartphone penetration and a large unbanked population. Unique mobile user penetration across the Group’s footprint is under 50% and banking penetration remains under 40%. This illustrates the significant opportunity ahead to deepen digital and financial inclusion across the communities we serve, enriching and transforming our customers' lives through digitisation while driving profitable growth across our key services of voice, data and mobile money

The Group continues to invest in its network and distribution infrastructure to enhance both mobile connectivity and financial inclusion across our OpCos. We continue to invest in expanding our 4G and 5G networks to increase data capacity and further enhance coverage across our markets.

Our strategy places customers at the heart of everything we do. By consistently delivering a superior customer experience, we continue to fulfil our purpose of transforming lives across Africa. Our consumer centric strategy is anchored on six strategic pillars: strengthening our ‘go-to-market’, delivering best in class network experience, winning more in key markets, digitising and simplifying processes across the business, accelerating Airtel Money and scaling our home broadband business (HBB) and enterprise offerings.

Underpinning the Group’s business strategy is our focus on cost optimisation, our sustainability strategy and the ongoing  investment into our people to build and retain talent. Our sustainability strategy supports our goals and commitments to foster financial inclusion, bridge the digital divide and serve more customers in some of the least penetrated telecom’s markets in the world.  

Strengthen ‘Go-to-market’

We continued to expand and strengthen our distribution footprint across both urban and rural markets, with a particular focus on our exclusive kiosk and mini-shop network, Airtel Money branches (AMB), and multi-brand outlets. During the year, our mobile money business added more than 500,000 Airtel Money agents and 105,000 activating outlets, further deepening our presence in towns and villages. This enhanced distribution has supported continued customer acquisition and contributed to strong revenue growth across the business.

Alongside the expansion of our physical distribution infrastructure, we continued to invest in digital capabilities that simplify processes and improve productivity for both our frontline sales teams and channel partners, helping drive greater operational efficiency and scalability.

Data revenue growth continued to be supported by rising smartphone adoption and improving customer monetisation. Smartphone penetration increased by 4.8 percentage points to 51.6%, driven by the ongoing expansion of our 4G and 5G networks and strong commercial execution. We also remain focused on extending network reach through our strategic partnership with Starlink which will help connect currently underserved rural communities and further strengthen the quality and coverage of our network.

Brilliant network experience

Our network remains a source of competitive advantage, and we continue to strengthen our core infrastructure to build a resilient, safe and reliable network to deliver a great customer experience to our customers. Over the period, we accelerated our network investment to enhance 4G network availability and continued to expand our 5G network, including the launch of 5G services in Gabon and the Seychelles, building on the strong progress already achieved across our existing 5G markets. Reaching underserved communities remains a key priority and we continue to expand rural coverage through new site rollouts and investing in spectrum and technologies to support increased capacity to facilitate our corporate purpose of transforming lives.

We deployed 4,200 infrastructure sites over the last year, alongside more than 4,400 additional 4G sites. As a result, 99.2% of our network sites are now 4G-enabled while our 5G footprint has expanded to 4,100 operational sites across seven markets.

As part of our commitment to building future-ready digital infrastructure, we continued to invest in spectrum, expand our fibre network, enhance our 5G capabilities and progress our data centre investments. These investments support increasing demand for connectivity and digital services while advancing digital inclusion across our markets. Our fibre business continues to deliver encouraging revenue growth, with more than 2,000 km added during the year, bringing our total fibre footprint to over 83,000 km.

 

Must win markets

Winning customers across all our markets through micro-marketing using network and digital tools is fundamental to our strategy and continues to enable us to drive both financial and digital inclusion. We aim to win in every micro-segment by optimising our network to improve the customer experience or strengthen our distribution where our network is already strong, so that we can acquire new customers with speed and precision. There are clusters of opportunities which have been identified across all OpCos which have been called out as ‘must win markets’. To ensure that we win across all ‘must win markets’ we stepped up investment on building people capabilities and driving a culture of collaborative working across functions.

In the broader urban areas, including smaller towns and emerging suburban peripheries, some micro-marketing actions include improving indoor coverage, network quality and delivering a seamless customer experience by enhancing our network through principles of community of interest. We are enhancing our in-store experience and increasing our own store footprint, while strengthening 5G coverage in these markets to cater for rising home broadband (HBB) demand. This will allow us to strengthen our position as a reliable network provider, attract new customers and lower churn.

Rural markets present a big growth opportunity to us, given the low penetration of both telecoms and financial services. To tap the opportunity, our focus remains on improving coverage and distribution expansion across all markets. With intensified network investment and focus on distribution excellence, we are confident that rural markets will contribute to a significant portion of our overall customer additions going forward.

Digitise and simplify

Our digital strategy is bringing connectivity and financial services closer together, making it easier for customers to manage their mobile needs and transact through Airtel Money in one experience. During H1’27, we continued to expand adoption while sharpening our focus on how customers use our platforms - supporting everyday payments, repeat transactions and greater engagement across services.

MyAirtel app is central to this approach, connecting our telecom and Airtel Money offerings through a single customer interface. Monthly active users reached 14 million at the end of September 2026, compared with 8 million a year earlier. Alongside this growth, we are focused on encouraging broader usage across telecom and financial services, extending the app’s role from account management to a platform for customers’ everyday transactions.

In September 2026, monthly total payment value (TPV) processed through MyAirtel app exceeded $1.4bn, marking a new milestone in the scale of our digital transaction activity. For the six months ended 30 September 2026, app TPV reached $7.7bn, an increase of 75% year-on-year, while transacting users grew by 87%. These results demonstrate the increasing importance of the app as a transaction channel across both telecom and Airtel Money services.

Airtel Money remains a key part of this integrated experience. Customers can transfer money, pay bills and merchants, and purchase airtime and bundles within the same app. We continued to extend customer access through complementary channels, including WhatsApp, supported by multilingual experiences across our markets. More targeted, data-led engagement is helping customers navigate onboarding, complete their first transaction and discover additional services relevant to their needs. This strengthens our focus on sustained usage and retention as digital adoption expands.

Across the Group, shared platforms and coordinated product roadmaps enable capabilities to be developed and deployed across multiple markets. Combined with the sharing of successful customer engagement practices, this approach supports faster execution, reduces duplication and allows operating companies to focus on customer adoption and commercial performance. The progress achieved during HY’27 reinforces digital’s role in expanding the reach and usage of Airtel Money, connecting financial services with our telecom offering and supporting a more efficient operating model across our markets.

Accelerate Airtel Money

Limited access to formal financial services, constrained banking infrastructure and continued reliance on cash across our markets present a significant opportunity to accelerate financial inclusion. Airtel Money is addressing this through a digital-first, mobile-led platform. Our focus remains on growing the customer base, scaling digital adoption and expanding our distribution network and product ecosystem, including merchant and enterprise payments. On 14 October 2026, Airtel Mobile Commerce N.V., the holding company of Airtel Money, was admitted to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

 

 

• Digital adoption: Our digital-first strategy continues to drive product innovation and customer engagement. Smartphone users represent over 54% of Airtel Money’s customer base. App transacting customers reached 6.6 million, taking app penetration of the smartphone customer base to 19.9%, up from 14.6% a year earlier. App users generate higher ARPU than featurephone users, and we are prioritising app adoption through seamless onboarding, gamification and bonus and cashback rewards.
• Ecosystem expansion: We continue to deepen our ecosystem across payments, merchant acceptance, lending, savings, insurance and virtual cards. In constant currency, payments and transfers revenue grew by 29.8% and financial services revenue by 56.9%, increasing the financial services share of revenue to 5.4% from 4.3%. Active merchants increased by 85.5% to over 587,000, supported by interoperable QR codes, tap-and-pay and payment links. We are also preparing new enterprise payments features, including vendor payments. Customers who use multiple services generate higher ARPU than single-service customers.
• Access and distribution: Our network of over 2.5 million active agents, up 25.3% year-on-year, and over 48,000 exclusive retail touchpoints (Airtel Money branches and kiosks) continue to extend last-mile access.

These initiatives contributed to an 22.4% increase in Airtel Money’s customer base to 60.9 million, lifting penetration of the telco customer base by 2.8 percentage points to 31.4%. Annualised total processed value for the second quarter reached $275bn, and revenue grew by 25.8% in constant currency. With 133 million Airtel Africa telecom customers not yet using mobile money services, this remains a key growth driver for the Group. We remain committed to building Africa’s most accessible, inclusive and scalable digital financial services platform, creating long-term value for our customers and stakeholders.

Scale home broadband (HBB) and enterprise

High-speed broadband connectivity remains the foundational pillar of our enterprise and HBB strategy. We have invested across several technologies (5G, fibre-to-the-home/building) to enhance capacity and expand our offerings across the footprint. Furthermore, we continue to invest in building an exclusive direct sales and installation team and have enhanced our digital tools to capture and automate the tracking of home broadband orders, supporting enhanced customer experience and enabling more efficient growth at scale.

The demand for this high-speed connectivity and digital services remains strong with the enterprise customer base growing by approximately 60%. Building on this strong connectivity foundation, we are accelerating the expansion of our ICT and digital services portfolio to address the evolving needs of enterprise customers. By combining our extensive broadband infrastructure with an expanding portfolio of value-added digital services, we aim to deepen customer relationships, increase our share of enterprise ICT spending and unlock new recurring revenue streams.

Nxtra by Airtel Africa, the data centre division of Airtel Africa, continues to advance its ambition of building Africa's leading digital infrastructure platform. Construction of both our Kenya and Nigeria data centre facilities continues to progress, with each project representing a significant milestone in expanding our regional digital infrastructure capabilities. Telesonic, also continues to strengthen its position as a leading pan-African digital infrastructure provider. With growing partnerships, it is playing a pivotal role in advancing Africa’s digital transformation and enabling resilient, scalable and future-ready connectivity across the continent.

 

 

Financial review for the half year ended 30 September 2026

Nigeria – mobile services

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue	$m	1,008	697	44.6%	26.6%	510	365	39.7%	24.0%
Voice revenue1	$m	370	268	37.8%	20.6%	179	134	33.2%	18.1%
Data revenue	$m	544	357	52.7%	33.8%	281	192	46.5%	30.1%
Other revenue2	$m	94	72	29.6%	13.5%	50	39	28.5%	14.1%
Underlying EBITDA	$m	586	393	49.2%	30.7%	294	208	41.3%	25.3%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	58.2%	56.3%	181 bps	181 bps	57.5%	56.9%	64 bps	62 bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(199)	(138)	43.7%	25.8%	(103)	(72)	43.8%	27.7%
Operating exceptional items	$m	(0)	-	0.0%	0.0%	(0)	-	0.0%	0.0%
Operating profit	$m	368	236	56.1%	35.5%	181	126	43.3%	25.9%
Capex	$m	177	74	139.9%	139.9%	50	35	41.0%	41.0%
Operating free cash flow	$m	409	319	28.2%		244	173	41.3%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	61.7	53.6	15.1%		61.7	53.6	15.1%
Data customer base	million	32.9	29.5	11.8%		32.9	29.5	11.8%
Mobile services ARPU	$	2.8	2.2	28.3%	12.3%	2.8	2.3	22.2%	8.4%

1.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Voice revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30 September 2026. Excluding the inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $369m in the half year ended 30 September 2026.
2.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30 September 2026 and in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $93m in half year ended 30 September 2026 and $71m in the prior period.

 

Revenue grew by 26.6% in constant currency, driven by ARPU growth of 12.3% and customer base growth of 15.1%. In reported currency, revenue grew by 44.6% to $1,008m. Higher reported currency growth compared to constant currency growth was due to the appreciation in the Nigerian naira from a weighted average NGN/USD rate of 1,553 in prior period to NGN/USD 1,360 in current period.

In H1’27, constant currency growth of 26.6% reflects the full lapping impact of tariff adjustments which were implemented in Q4’25.

Voice revenue grew by 20.6% in constant currency, driven by voice ARPU growth of 7.0% and customer base increase of 15.1%.

Data revenue grew by 33.8% in constant currency as a function of both data customer and data ARPU growth of 11.8% and 20.5% respectively:

• Smartphone penetration increased by 4.0% to reach 56.8%
• Smartphone data usage per customer reached 16.7 GB per month compared to 12.7 GB per month in the prior period.

Underlying EBITDA of $586m improved by 49.2% in reported currency and by 30.7% in constant currency. The underlying EBITDA margin increased 181 basis points to 58.2%, driven by strong revenue growth and continued benefits arising from our cost efficiency programme.

Recent geopolitical developments have resulted in doubling of fuel prices in Nigeria since the beginning of this financial year. This impact increased progressively during H1’27, with Q2’27 EBITDA margins reflecting the full impact of the higher costs. Our cost efficiency programme mitigated these pressures, limiting the sequential margin decline to approximately 130 bps, from 58.8% in Q1’27 to 57.5% in Q2’27.

Operating free cash flow increased by 28.2% to $409m driven by strong underlying EBITDA growth, despite significantly higher capex during the period.

 

 

East Africa – mobile services 1

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue	$m	1,258	1,047	20.2%	15.4%	652	549	18.7%	16.4%
Voice revenue2	$m	593	518	14.6%	8.9%	308	273	13.0%	9.8%
Data revenue	$m	566	434	30.3%	26.0%	298	227	30.9%	29.4%
Other revenue3	$m	99	95	4.2%	2.6%	46	49	(6.8%)	(6.8%)
Underlying EBITDA	$m	635	505	25.8%	20.5%	340	275	23.6%	20.8%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	50.5%	48.3%	225 bps	211 bps	52.2%	50.2%	205 bps	188 bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(240)	(201)	19.4%	16.9%	(122)	(104)	17.6%	17.3%
Operating exceptional items	$m	(1)	-	0.0%	0.0%	(1)	-	0.0%	0.0%
Operating profit	$m	364	276	31.5%	23.4%	200	157	27.8%	22.9%
Capex	$m	247	124	98.9%	98.9%	109	81	34.3%	34.3%
Operating free cash flow	$m	388	381	2.0%		231	194	19.1%
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	88.8	82.3	8.0%		88.8	82.3	8.0%
Data customer base	million	39.5	34.3	15.2%		39.5	34.3	15.2%
Mobile services ARPU	$	2.4	2.2	10.5%	6.1%	2.5	2.3	8.9%	6.8%

1. The East Africa segment consists of Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
2.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Voice revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30 September 2025. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $517m in half year ended 30 September 2025.
3.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $11m in the half year ended 30 September 2026 and $9m in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $88m in half year ended 30 September 2026 and $86m in the prior period.

 

Revenue grew by 15.4% in constant currency, driven by customer base growth of 8.0% and ARPU growth of 6.1%. In reported currency, revenue grew by 20.2% to $1,258m. Higher reported currency revenue growth as compared to constant currency was primarily due to significant appreciation in the Zambian kwacha.

Voice revenue growth of 8.9% in constant currency was primarily driven by an 8.0% growth in the customer base.

Data revenue grew by 26.0% in constant currency supported by data customer base growth of 15.2% and data ARPU growth of 8.1%:

• Smartphone penetration increased by 4.9% to reach 48.6%
• Smartphone data usage per customer reached 12.2 GB per month compared to 9.0 GB per month in the prior period.

Underlying EBITDA increased to $635m, up by 25.8% in reported currency and by 20.5% in constant currency. Underlying EBITDA margins of 50.5% were 225 bps higher than the prior period of 48.3%.

Despite capex almost doubling over the period, operating free cash flow was broadly stable at $388m, reflecting the strong operational momentum across the region.

 

 

Francophone Africa – mobile services 1

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue	$m	867	749	15.8%	15.3%	448	387	15.8%	16.5%
Voice revenue 2	$m	334	316	6.0%	5.5%	170	162	5.2%	6.1%
Data revenue	$m	461	370	24.4%	24.0%	243	192	26.0%	26.6%
Other revenue 3	$m	72	63	14.4%	13.2%	35	33	8.0%	8.4%
Underlying EBITDA	$m	351	296	18.5%	18.2%	179	153	16.8%	17.7%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	40.5%	39.5%	93 bps	100 bps	39.9%	39.6%	35 bps	41 bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(144)	(125)	15.9%	15.3%	(73)	(65)	12.5%	13.3%
Operating exceptional items	$m	(1)	-	0.0%	0.0%	(1)	-	0.0%	0.0%
Operating profit	$m	179	146	23.2%	23.3%	92	76	21.6%	22.8%
Capex	$m	187	87	114.8%	114.8%	85	56	51.6%	51.6%
Operating free cash flow	$m	164	209	(21.6%)		94	97	(3.2%)
Operating KPIs
Total customer base	million	43.4	38.0	14.3%		43.4	38.0	14.3%
Data customer base	million	17.4	14.3	21.3%		17.4	14.3	21.3%
Mobile services ARPU	$	3.4	3.4	0.3%	(0.1%)	3.5	3.5	0.5%	1.1%

 (1) The Francophone Africa segment consists of Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Republic of the Congo and the Seychelles.

2.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Voice revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $1m in the half year ended 30 September 2025. Excluding inter-segment revenue, voice revenue was $315m in the half year ended 30 September 2025.
3.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Other revenue includes inter-segment revenue of $8m in the half year ended 30 September 2026 and $3m in the prior period. Excluding inter-segment revenue, other revenue was $64m in half year ended 30 September 2026 and $60m in the prior period.

 

Revenue grew by 15.3% in constant currency, driven from the continued strength in customer base growth of 14.3%. In reported currency, revenue grew by 15.8% to $867m. Q2’27 constant currency revenue growth accelerated further to 16.5% in Q2’27 from 14.0% in Q1’27.

Voice revenue grew by 5.5% in constant currency as customer base growth of 14.3% was partially offset by a decline in voice ARPU reflecting interconnect rate reductions.

Data revenue grew by 24.0% in constant currency, primarily supported by data customer base growth of 21.3%:

• Smartphone penetration increased by 5.4% to reach 50.2%
• Smartphone data usage per customer reached 9.7 GB per month compared to 7.6 GB per month in the prior period
• 97.4% of sites are now on 4G as compared to 93.3% in the prior period

Underlying EBITDA of $351m increased by 18.5% and 18.2% in reported and constant currency, respectively. The underlying EBITDA margin improved to 40.5%, an increase of 93 basis points, driven by continued strong revenue growth. In Q2’27, underlying EBITDA margin at 39.9% declined from 41.1% in Q1’27, reflecting the impact of increase in fuel costs partially offset by savings from our ongoing cost efficiency programme.

Operating free cash flow declined by 21.6% to $164m, as growth in underlying EBITDA was more than offset by higher capex during the period.

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile services

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue1	$m	3,141	2,495	25.9%	18.9%	1,614	1,303	23.8%	18.8%
Voice revenue	$m	1,296	1,100	17.9%	11.1%	657	567	15.7%	11.0%
Data revenue	$m	1,571	1,161	35.3%	28.0%	821	612	34.2%	28.7%
Other revenue	$m	274	234	17.1%	11.4%	136	124	9.7%	5.6%
Underlying EBITDA	$m	1,586	1,195	32.7%	24.4%	821	637	28.9%	22.7%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	50.5%	47.9%	258 bps	222 bps	50.8%	48.9%	199 bps	163 bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(587)	(468)	25.4%	19.1%	(300)	(244)	22.8%	18.4%
Operating exceptional items	$m	(2)	-	0.0%	0.0%	(2)	-	0.0%	0.0%
Operating profit	$m	921	655	40.5%	29.8%	479	355	34.8%	26.7%
Capex	$m	614	285	115.1%	115.1%	246	172	42.5%	42.5%
Operating free cash flow	$m	972	910	6.8%		575	465	23.8%
Operating KPIs
Customer KPIs:
Total customer base	million	193.9	173.8	11.6%		193.9	173.8	11.6%
Data customer base	million	89.9	78.1	15.0%		89.9	78.1	15.0%
ARPU KPIs:
Voice ARPU	$	1.1	1.1	5.7%	(0.4%)	1.1	1.1	3.3%	(0.9%)
Data ARPU	$	3.0	2.6	17.1%	10.7%	3.1	2.7	15.8%	11.1%

1.                    Mobile service revenue after inter-segment eliminations was $3,124m in the half year ended 30 September 2026 and $2,488m in the prior period.

 

Overall revenue from mobile services increased by 25.9% in reported currency to $3,141m. In constant currency, revenues increased by 18.9%, with growth across all regions and services. Higher reported currency growth compared to constant currency was largely due to appreciation in Nigerian naira and Zambian kwacha.

Voice revenue grew by 11.1% in constant currency, supported primarily by continued growth in the customer base of 11.6%. Total minutes on the network grew by 5.7% while voice usage per customer was 278 minutes per month.

Data revenue grew by 28.0% in constant currency, contributing to half of total mobile services revenue, up from 46.5% in the prior period. Constant currency revenue growth was driven by both data customer base growth of 15.0% and data ARPU growth of 10.7%:

• Smartphone penetration increased 4.8% to reach 51.6%
• Smartphone data usage per customer reached 13.3 GB per month compared to 10.1 GB per month in the prior period
• As of 30 September 2026, 5G is operational across seven markets, with 4,094 sites across our network.

Underlying EBITDA was $1,586m, up 32.7% in reported currency and 24.4% in constant currency. Despite the increased fuel prices across the footprint, the underlying EBITDA margin improved by 258 basis points year-on-year to 50.5%. This reflects a strong revenue performance and continued benefits from our ongoing cost efficiency programme.  

Our capex over the period increased by 115% to $614m as we accelerated our investments to capture the significant growth opportunity across the mobile services segment. Given the strong performance of the business and continued cost efficiencies, operating free cash flow increased 6.8% to $972m.

 

 

Mobile money1

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Summarised statement of operations
Revenue2	$m	840	623	34.8%	25.8%	437	333	31.3%	25.8%
Wallet services3	$m	409	299	36.9%	27.6%	213	163	30.9%	25.0%
Payment and transfers3	$m	363	262	38.4%	29.8%	191	138	38.2%	33.2%
Financial services3	$m	45	27	68.9%	56.9%	24	14	71.1%	63.7%
Others3	$m	23	35	(34.6%)	(40.7%)	9	18	(51.6%)	(54.7%)
Underlying EBITDA	$m	411	323	27.4%	17.2%	213	169	25.6%	18.9%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	48.9%	51.7%	(287) bps	(359) bps	48.7%	50.9%	(223) bps	(280) bps
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(22)	(13)	63.3%	54.0%	(12)	(7)	78.3%	71.5%
Operating exceptional items	$m	(6)	-	0.0%	0.0%	(6)	-	0.0%	0.0%
Operating profit	$m	374	301	24.0%	13.7%	190	158	19.9%	13.3%
Capex	$m	25	24	6.0%	6.0%	10	19	(46.5%)	(46.5%)
Operating free cash flow	$m	386	299	29.0%		203	150	35.1%
Operating KPIs
Mobile money customer base	million	60.9	49.8	22.4%		60.9	49.8	22.4%
Total processed value (TPV)	$bn	130.1	88.8	46.4%	36.9%	68.6	48.3	42.1%	36.5%
Mobile money ARPU	$	2.5	2.2	10.0%	2.6%	2.5	2.3	6.4%	1.9%

1. The mobile money segment consists of mobile money business of all 14 operations (including Nigeria PSB).
2.  Mobile money service revenue post inter-segment eliminations with mobile services were $699m in the half year ended 30 September 2026 and $494m in the prior period.
3. Wallet services comprise cash-in (deposits)/cash-out (withdrawals). Payment and transfers comprise P2P money transfers, airtime and bundle recharges, utility bill payments, merchant payments, cash collection, corporate bulk payments and international money transfers. Financial services primarily include bank-to-wallet transfers, wallet-to-bank transfers, lending, insurance, wealth management and savings. Others comprises retention revenues. For a full description refer to glossary on page 54.  

 

Mobile money revenue grew by 34.8% in reported currency, with constant currency revenues growing by 25.8%. Higher reported currency revenue growth compared to constant currency was largely due to a significant appreciation in the Zambian kwacha.

The strengthening of our distribution network, the increased adoption of the digital offering, and a continued expansion of the ecosystem through increased use cases have underpinned a 22.4% growth in the customer base and supported constant currency ARPU growth of 2.6%. Revenue as well as ARPU growth was partly impacted by the change to the intra-group agreements.

An 11.7% increase in total processed value (TPV) per customer to $380 per customer per month reflects both the enhanced ecosystem and increased user engagement. Q2’27 annualised TPV was at $275bn in reported currency, with mobile money revenue contributing 22.0%[5] of total Group revenue during the half year ended 30 September 2026.

Mobile money underlying EBITDA was $411m, up by 27.4% and 17.2% in reported and constant currency, respectively. The underlying EBITDA margin of 48.9%, declined by 287 basis points in reported currency, primarily reflects the renegotiation of intra-group agreements as previously disclosed.

Operating free cash flow was $386m, up by 29.0% in reported currency driven by increase in underlying EBITDA.

 

Regional split:

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	840	623	34.8%	25.8%	437	333	31.3%	25.8%
Nigeria	$m	10	4	176.4%	141.7%	6	2	199.0%	165.1%
East Africa	$m	615	466	31.9%	20.5%	318	250	27.1%	20.0%
Francophone Africa	$m	215	153	40.6%	40.2%	113	81	40.2%	41.3%
Mobile money customers	million	60.9	49.8	22.4%		60.9	49.8	22.4%
Nigeria	million	4.2	2.0	110.9%		4.2	2.0	110.9%
East Africa	million	44.1	38.9	13.5%		44.1	38.9	13.5%
Francophone Africa	million	12.6	8.9	41.9%		12.6	8.9	41.9%

 

During the period, East Africa revenue grew by 20.5% and Francophone Africa revenue grew by 40.2% in constant currency, while the Nigerian business continues to gather traction with strong growth in both the customer base and revenue, albeit off a relatively low level.

 

 

 

Regional performance

Nigeria

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	1,014	699	45.0%	27.0%	514	366	40.2%	24.4%
Voice revenue	$m	370	268	37.8%	20.6%	179	134	33.2%	18.1%
Data revenue	$m	544	357	52.7%	33.8%	281	192	46.5%	30.1%
Mobile money revenue	$m	10	4	176.4%	141.7%	6	2	199.0%	165.1%
Other revenue	$m	94	72	29.5%	13.4%	49	39	28.5%	14.1%
Underlying EBITDA	$m	589	392	50.2%	31.5%	296	207	42.8%	26.7%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	58.1%	56.1%	199 bps	198 bps	57.6%	56.5%	106 bps	104 bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	2.8	2.2	28.7%	12.7%	2.8	2.3	22.6%	8.8%

East Africa

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	1,777	1,425	24.8%	18.2%	923	755	22.3%	18.6%
Voice revenue	$m	593	518	14.6%	8.9%	308	273	13.0%	9.8%
Data revenue	$m	566	434	30.3%	26.0%	298	227	30.9%	29.4%
Mobile money revenue	$m	615	466	31.9%	20.5%	318	250	27.1%	20.0%
Other revenue	$m	89	90	(1.2%)	(2.7%)	41	46	(11.2%)	(11.0%)
Underlying EBITDA	$m	953	756	26.0%	18.2%	504	408	23.5%	18.8%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	53.6%	53.1%	54 bps	(1) bps	54.6%	54.1%	57 bps	12 bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	3.4	3.0	14.6%	8.6%	3.5	3.1	12.2%	8.8%

Francophone Africa

Description	Unit of measure	Half year ended				Quarter ended
		Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change	Sep-26	Sep-25	Reported currency change	Constant currency change
Revenue	$m	1,022	854	19.6%	19.2%	529	443	19.5%	20.3%
Voice revenue	$m	334	316	6.0%	5.5%	170	162	5.2%	6.1%
Data revenue	$m	461	370	24.4%	24.0%	243	192	26.0%	26.6%
Mobile money revenue	$m	215	153	40.6%	40.2%	113	81	40.2%	41.3%
Other revenue	$m	64	61	6.0%	5.5%	32	31	0.8%	1.3%
Underlying EBITDA	$m	450	376	19.5%	19.3%	229	195	18.0%	18.8%
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	44.0%	44.0%	(4) bps	2 bps	43.4%	43.9%	(57) bps	(55) bps
Operating KPIs
ARPU	$	4.0	3.9	3.6%	3.2%	4.1	4.0	3.7%	4.4%

Consolidated performance

Description	UoM	Half year ended - September 2026					Half year ended - September 2025
		Mobile services	Mobile money	Unallocated1	Eliminations	Total	Mobile services	Mobile money	Unallocated1	Eliminations	Total
Revenue	$m	3,141	840	-	(158)	3,823	2,495	623	-	(136)	2,982
Voice revenue	$m	1,296		-	-	1,296	1,100		-	-	1,100
Data revenue	$m	1,571		-	-	1,571	1,161		-	-	1,161
Other revenue	$m	274		-	(17)	257	234		-	(7)	227
Underlying EBITDA	$m	1,586	411	(76)	-	1,921	1,195	323	(71)	-	1,447
Underlying EBITDA margin	%	50.5%	48.9%			50.3%	47.9%	51.7%			48.5%
Depreciation and amortisation	$m	(587)	(22)	(7)	-	(616)	(468)	(13)	(7)	-	(488)
Operating exceptional items		(2)	(6)	(11)	-	(19)	-	-	-	-	-
Operating profit	$m	921	374	(9)	-	1,286	655	301	3	-	959

1. Unallocated in the above table represents ‘headquarter costs’.

 

Related party transactions

Related party transactions are disclosed in note 16 to the condensed set of financial statements.

There have been no material changes in the related party transactions described in the Annual Report and Accounts 2026.

Risk factors

The risk factors summarised below relate to the Group’s business and industry in which it operates. Additional risks and uncertainties relating to the Group that are currently unknown to the Group, or those the Group currently deems immaterial, may, individually or cumulatively, also have a material adverse impact on the Group’s business, results of operations and financial position. The Group’s principal and emerging risks and risk management process are described in our Annual Report and Accounts 2026. Based on the Group’s assessment, there has been no changes to the Group’s principal risks in the period.

Summary of principal risks

The Group continually monitors its external and internal environment to identify risks which have the ability to impact its operations, financial performance or the achievement of its objectives.

1. We operate in a competitive environment with the potential for aggressive competition by existing players, or the entry of new players, which could both put a downward pressure on prices, adversely affecting our revenue and profitability.
2. Failure to innovate through simplifying the customer experience, developing adequate digital touchpoints in line with changing customer needs and competitive landscape could lead to loss of customers and market share.
3. Global geopolitical tensions and changes in macroeconomic conditions have the potential to impact our business both directly and indirectly. These impacts include potential increases in the cost of our inputs and negative effects on the disposable incomes of our customers, which could, in turn, affect sales and profitability.
4. Cybersecurity threats through internal or external sabotage or system vulnerabilities could potentially result in customer data breaches and/or service downtimes.  This risk is increasing as AI-enabled attacks such as automated phishing, bot-driven threats, and other AI-augmented intrusions grow more sophisticated and harder to defend against.
5. Supply chain disruptions, whether affecting the Group directly or its key suppliers and partners, have the potential to materially impact our ability to deliver products and services, increase operating costs and negatively affect profitability. Risks arising from disruptions across global supply chains whether driven by geopolitical instability, trade restrictions, natural disasters, or logistical constraints can cascade through our supply chain and affect our operational continuity.
6. Shortages of skilled telecommunications professionals in some markets and the inability to identify and develop successors for key leadership positions could both lead to disruptions in the execution of our corporate strategy.
7. The resilience of our financial services platform is fundamental to achieving our strategic objectives and advancing financial inclusion across our operating footprint. With the increasing scale of our financial services business and the level of integration with third-party products, services and platforms, disruptions to platform availability whether caused by technical failures, cybersecurity incidents, third-party system outages, or infrastructure constraints can result in service interruptions that undermine customer trust, impact transaction processing, and expose the Group to reputational and regulatory risk.
8. Our ability to provide quality of service to our customers and meet quality of service (QoS) requirements depends on the robustness and resilience of our technology stack and ecosystem encompassing hardware, software, products, services, applications and our ability to respond appropriately to any disruptions. However, telecommunications networks are subject to the risks of technical failures, aging infrastructure, human error, wilful acts of destruction or natural disasters.
9. We operate across diverse and dynamic legal, tax and regulatory environments. Adverse changes in the political, macroeconomic and policy environment could negatively impact our ability to achieve our objectives. While the Group makes every effort to comply with its legal and regulatory obligations across all operating jurisdictions in line with its risk appetite, it remains continually exposed to an uncertain and evolving legal, regulatory and policy environment in a number of its markets.
10. Our multinational footprint means we are constantly exposed to the risk of adverse currency fluctuations and the macroeconomic conditions in the markets where we operate. We derive revenue and incur costs in local currencies where we operate, but we also incur costs in foreign currencies, mainly from buying equipment and services from manufacturers and technology service providers. That means adverse movements in exchange rates between the currencies in our OpCos and the US dollar could have a negative effect on our liquidity and financial condition. In some markets, we face instances of limited supply of foreign currency within the local monetary system. This not only constrains our ability to fully benefit at Group level from strong cash generation by those OpCos but also impacts our ability to make timely foreign currency payments to our international suppliers.

Given the severity of this risk, specifically in some of our OpCos, the Group management continuously monitors the potential impact of this risk of exchange rate fluctuations by comparing the average devaluation of each currency in the markets in which the Group operates against US dollar on a ten-year historic basis and onshore forward exchange rates over a one-year period, if available.

With respect to currency sensitivity going forward, over a 12-month period and assuming the movement occurs at the beginning of the period, a further 1% movement of the USD against all OpCos currencies would result in an estimated impact of $66m-$68m on revenues, $33m-$35m on EBITDA and $27m-$29m on finance cost (excluding derivatives). Our largest exposure is to the Nigerian naira, where a similar 1% USD movement would result in an estimated $13m-$15m impact on finance cost (excluding derivatives).

This does not represent any guidance and is being used solely to illustrate the potential impact of further currency movements on the Group for the purpose of exchange rate risk management and assumes all other variables remain constant. The accounting under IFRS is based on exchange rates in line with the requirements of IAS 21 ‘The Effect of Changes in Foreign Exchange’ and does not factor in the devaluation mentioned above.

Based on the above-mentioned specific methodology for the identified OpCos, management evaluates specific mitigation actions based on available mechanisms in each of the geographies. For further details on such mitigation action, refer to the ‘Managing our risk’ section of the Annual Report and Accounts 2026 which can be downloaded from our website www.airtel.africa

 

Going concern

As stated in note 3.1 to the condensed financial statements, the directors are satisfied that the Group has sufficient resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future, a period of not less than 12 months from the date of this report. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the condensed financial statements.

 

Forward looking statements

This document contains certain forward-looking statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, amongst other things, our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the economic and business circumstances occurring from time to time in the countries and markets in which the Group operates.

These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe," "anticipate," "could," "may," "would," "should," "intend," "plan," "potential," "predict," "will," "expect," "estimate," "project," "positioned," "strategy," "outlook", "target" and similar expressions.

It is believed that the expectations reflected in this document are reasonable, but they may be affected by a wide range of variables that could cause actual results to differ materially from those currently anticipated.

All such forward-looking statements involve estimates and assumptions that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual future financial condition, performance and results to differ materially from the plans, goals, expectations and results expressed in the forward-looking statements and other financial and/or statistical data within this communication.

Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are uncertainties related to the following: the impact of competition from illicit trade; the impact of adverse domestic or international legislation and regulation; changes in domestic or international tax laws and rates; adverse litigation and dispute outcomes and the effect of such outcomes on Airtel Africa’s financial condition; changes or differences in domestic or international economic or political conditions; the ability to obtain price increases and the impact of price increases on consumer affordability thresholds; adverse decisions by domestic or international regulatory bodies; the impact of market size reduction and consumer down-trading; translational and transactional foreign exchange rate exposure; the impact of serious injury, illness or death in the workplace; the ability to maintain credit ratings; the ability to develop, produce or market new alternative products and to do so profitably; the ability to effectively implement strategic initiatives and actions taken to increase sales growth; the ability to enhance cash generation and pay dividends and changes in the market position, businesses, financial condition, results of operations or prospects of Airtel Africa.

Past performance is no guide to future performance and persons needing advice should consult an independent financial adviser. The forward-looking statements contained in this document reflect the knowledge and information available to Airtel Africa at the date of preparation of this document and Airtel Africa undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

No statement in this communication is intended to be, nor should be construed as, a profit forecast or a profit estimate and no statement in this communication should be interpreted to mean that earnings per share of Airtel Africa plc for the current or any future financial periods would necessarily match, exceed or be lower than the historical published earnings per share of Airtel Africa plc.

Financial data included in this document are presented in US dollars rounded to the nearest million. Therefore, discrepancies in the tables between totals and the sums of the amounts listed may occur due to such rounding. The percentages included in the tables throughout the document are based on numbers calculated to the nearest $1,000 and therefore minor rounding differences may result in the tables. Growth metrics are provided on a constant currency basis unless otherwise stated. The Group has presented certain financial information on a constant currency basis. This is calculated by translating the results for the current financial year and prior financial year at a fixed ‘constant currency’ exchange rate, which is done to measure the organic performance of the Group. Growth rates for our reporting regions and service segments are provided in constant currency as this better represents the performance of the business.

 

Airtel Africa plc

Results for the half year ended 30 September 2026

Consolidated financial statements

Interim condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive income

 

	Note	For the six months ended
		30 September 2026	30 September 2025
		$m	$m
Income
Revenue	5	3,823	2,982
Other income		4	14
		3,827	2,996
Expenses
Network operating expenses		704	572
Access charges		149	118
Licence fee and spectrum usage charges		168	146
Employee benefits expense		221	167
Sales and marketing expenses		510	395
Impairment loss on financial assets		8	5
Other operating expenses		165	146
Depreciation and amortisation		616	488
		2,541	2,037
Operating profit		1,286	959
Finance costs
- Derivative and foreign exchange (gains)/losses
Nigerian naira		(57)	(54)
Other currencies		55	(36)
- Other finance costs		490	407
Finance income		(11)	(13)
Net monetary (gain)/loss relating to hyperinflationary accounting	6	(5)	0
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using       equity method		(0)	(1)
Profit before tax		814	656
Income tax expense	7	362	280
Profit for the period		452	376
Profit before tax (as presented above)		814	656
Add: Exceptional items	8	56	-
Underlying profit before tax		870	656
Profit after tax (as presented above)		452	376
Add: Exceptional items	8	55	-
Underlying profit after tax		507	376
	Note	For the six months ended
		30 September 2026	30 September 2025
		$m	$m
Profit for the period (continued from previous page)		452	376
Other comprehensive income ('OCI')
Items to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
(Loss)/gain due to foreign currency translation differences		(22)	146
Loss on cash flow hedges		-	(0)
Cash flow hedges reclassified to profit or loss		-	(0)
Share of OCI of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method		0	1
Tax on above		-	0
		(22)	147
Items not to be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:
Re-measurement (loss)/gain on defined benefit plans		(6)	0
Tax on above		1	(0)
		(5)	(0)
Other comprehensive (loss)/income for the period		(27)	147
Total comprehensive income for the period		425	523
Profit for the period attributable to:		452	376
Owners of the company		371	303
Non-controlling interests		81	73
Other comprehensive (loss)/income for the period attributable to:		(27)	147
Owners of the company		8	135
Non-controlling interests		(35)	12
Total comprehensive income for the period attributable to:		425	523
Owners of the company		379	438
Non-controlling interests		46	85
Earnings per share		cents	cents
Basic	9	10.2	8.3
Diluted	9	10.2	8.3

 

 

Interim condensed consolidated statement of financial position

 

	Note	As of
		30 September 2026	31 March 2026
		$m	$m
Assets
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment	10	2,688	2,425
Capital work-in-progress	10	330	265
Right of use assets		3,744	3,569
Goodwill	11	3,224	3,238
Other intangible assets		834	871
Intangible assets under development		126	25
Investments accounted for using equity method		6	6
Financial assets
- Investments		0	0
- Derivative instruments		-	0
- Others		14	17
Income tax assets (net)		9	8
Deferred tax assets (net)		383	428
Other non-current assets		237	206
		11,595	11,058
Current assets
Inventories		11	16
Financial assets
- Investments		-	20
- Derivative instruments		2	1
- Trade receivables		190	193
- Cash and cash equivalents	12	717	646
- Other bank balances	12	172	197
- Balance held under mobile money trust	13	1,489	1,395
- Others		78	90
Other current assets		391	341
Assets classified as held for sale		9	6
		3,059	2,905
Total assets		14,654	13,963

 

 

	Note	As of
		30 September 2026	31 March 2026
		$m	$m
Liabilities  Current liabilities
Financial liabilities
- Borrowings	14	1,120	1,019
- Lease liabilities		323	329
- Put option liability		509	515
- Derivative instruments		6	7
- Trade payables		701	612
- Mobile money wallet balance		1,438	1,310
- Others		466	486
Employee benefit obligations		50	64
Provisions		68	35
Deferred revenue		171	173
Current tax liabilities (net)		186	174
Other current liabilities		275	268
		5,313	4,992
Net current liabilities		(2,254)	(2,087)
Non-current liabilities
Financial liabilities
- Borrowings	14	1,063	1,169
- Lease liabilities		4,173	3,895
- Derivative instruments		-	0
- Others		267	201
Employee benefit obligations		41	33
Provisions		9	2
Deferred revenue		54	43
Deferred tax liabilities (net)		117	136
Other non-current liabilities		1	4
		5,725	5,483
Total liabilities		11,038	10,475
Net assets		3,616	3,488
Equity
Share capital	15	1,815	1,827
Reserves and surplus		1,461	1,321
Equity attributable to owners of the company		3,276	3,148
Non-controlling interests ('NCI')		340	340
Total equity		3,616	3,488

 

The accompanying notes form an integral part of these interim condensed consolidated financial statements.   For and on behalf of the Board of Airtel Africa plc     Sunil Taldar               Chief executive officer 29 October 2026