Airtel Africa Plc has reported a 34.5% year on year growth in earnings per share to $0.05 for third quarter of 2026, driven by a 32.9% increase in revenue.
The company’s profit before tax rose 16.2% year on year to $366.92 million, with profit after tax increasing 24.4% to $209.92 million.
The strong performance was driven by broad based growth across key segments, including voice, data, and mobile money. Data remained the primary growth engine, contributing 39.4% to total revenue.
Commenting on the result, Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, said “These results highlight the strength of our strategy, with strong operating and financial trends across the business. During the quarter, we accelerated investment to enhance coverage and data capacity while also expanding our fibre network”.
He explained that coupling this investment with innovative partnerships, strengthens our customer proposition and positions us to capture the considerable growth opportunity across our markets. Digitisation, technology innovation and embedding AI in our processes will also optimise the customer experience with increased digital offerings and closer integration of GSM and Airtel Money servicesallowing us to unlock the strong demand across our markets”.
Adding that smartphone adoption continues to increasewith penetration of 48.1%, and we are seeing solid progress inthe development of our home broadband business, reflecting the need for reliable, high-speed connectivity across our markets.
Our push to enhance financial inclusion across the continent continues to gain momentum with our Mobile Money customer base expanding to 52 million, surpassing the 50 million milestone. Annualised total processed value of over $210bn in Q3’26 underscores the depth of our merchants, agents and partner ecosystem, and remains a keyplayer in driving improved access to financial services across Africa”.
“We remain on track for the listing of Airtel Money in the first half of 2026. Disciplined execution on cost efficiency, alongside accelerating revenue growth has enabled another sequential improvement in our quarterly EBITDA margin to 49.6%, – underpinning constant currency EBITDA growth of 31% – and we remain focussed on driving further incremental margin improvements. Our strategic priorities remain clear: to keep investing in best in class connectivity, accelerate financial inclusion through our mobile money platform anddeliver agreatcustomer experience. These results reinforceour confidence in the long term potential of our markets and our ability to create value for all our stakeholders.”
The company’s subscriber base expanded 14.6% year-on-year, with net additions of 3.70 million in Q3 2026.
Airtel Africa’s regional performance was also strong, with Nigeria’s revenue surging 71.0% year-on-year, East Africa growing 23.1%, and Francophone Africa increasing 23.7%.
Analysts expect momentum to continue through 2026, driven by customer acquisition and rising data consumption.
