Airtel Africa Plc released its ffirst quarter unaudited financial results, showcasing a remarkable improvement in performance. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) skyrocketed to USD3.40, a significant jump from USD0.18 in first quarter of 2025.

This growth was primarily driven by a 33% year-on-year increase in operating income and a 33.9% decline in total finance costs.

Group revenue rose by 22.4%, fueled by higher mobile tariffs in Nigeria and steady improvement in Francophone Africa.

The company’s subscriber base grew by 9% to 169.40 million, with notable increases in voice usage per subscriber and data usage per subscriber.

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

“We are very pleased with the strong growth in our operating and financial performance in the first quarter. The strength of this performance, and the scale of the growth we achieved, reflects the sustained demand for our services and the strength of our business model to meet these demands. Operationally, the acceleration in customer base growthto 9%, and 17.4% growth in our data customers to 75.6m reflects the strong on-ground execution with a relentless focus on digitisation and the simplification of the customer experience. Our strategy continues to prioritise the customer experience, as demonstrated by the launch of Airtel Spam Alert—an AI-powered solution aimed at enhancing trust and delivering a safer network environment. This underscores our commitment to leveraging technology to lower barriers to smartphone adoption. With smartphone penetration at only 45.9%, we see significant headroom to drive further adoption and play a key role in bridging the digital divide.

Mobile money remains a cornerstone of our current and future growth proposition. With our customer base approaching 46 million and expanding by over 16%, we see significant potential to further advance financial inclusion through the continued growth of our financial services offering. The continued expansion of our mobile money portfolio and the advancement of enterprise and digital payments contributed to a 35% growth in annualised transaction value to $162bn. We will continue to focus on technology and the range of product offerings to deliver a differentiated experience for our customers.

The provision of these essential services and the strategic focus on providing a great customer experience underpinned the acceleration in constant currency revenue growth to 24.9%, translating into reported currency revenue growth of over 22% as currencies stabilise. This strong revenue performance and continued cost efficiencies contributed to further EBITDA margin expansion which resulted in strong EBITDA growth of approximately 30%, and we remain focussed on further margin improvements subject to macroeconomic stability. With a strong balance sheet and sustained network investment, I remain confident about our ability to capture the available growth potential across our markets and remain committed to efficiently and effectively delivering services that help to improve the lives, communities and economies we serve.”

 Nigeria market showed that  revenue increased by 29.8%, driven by higher mobile tariffs and a growing subscriber base. East Africa revenue grew by 16.9% in constant currency terms, attributed to expanded network coverage and distribution network.

 Francophone Africa, revenue rose by 14.8% in constant currency terms, with strong contribution from data services.

Mobile Money revenue increased by 30.3%, supported by an expanding subscriber base and higher average revenue per user (ARPU). EBITDA grew by 29.8%, leading to a 276 basis points increase in EBITDA margin to 48.0%.

Market watchers believe Airtel Africa’s solid 2026 first quarter results demonstrate the company resilience and growth potential, driven by strategic initiatives and expanding services. With a strong outlook for sustained revenue and profitability growth, Airtel Africa is poised for continued success