Airtel Africa subscribers rise to 166.1 million as data customers increase to 73.4 million, boosting group’s data ARPUs

Airtel Africa has released its full-year trading results for 2024, reporting an accelerated growth and sequential margin expansion during the year.

According to the group’s financials, the total customer base grew by 8.7% (standing at 166.1 million), with the telco’s focus on digital inclusion supporting a 4.3% increase in smartphone penetration to 44.8%. Data customers increased by 14.1% (rising to 73.4 million), with data usage per customer increasing by 30.4% to 7.0 GB, supporting the group’s overall data ARPU growth of 15.4% in constant currency.

The focus on and continued investment in the Airtel Money agent network led to a 17.3% increase in mobile money subscribers, now standing at 44.6 million, and a 11.4% growth in constant currency ARPU. In the fourth quarter of 2025, transaction value increased by 34% in constant currency with annualised transaction value of $145 billion.

Sunil Taldar, the Airtel Africa CEO (pictured), commented on the trading update, stating: “We have reported another strong operating performance as our strategy continues to deliver against the significant opportunity that exists across our markets. The focus on our refreshed strategy has seen continued investment in the network while also driving improvements in our digital platforms and offerings to further enhance the customer experience.

This has enabled increased digital inclusion with a further 20% growth in our smartphone customers to 74.4 million, contributing to a 47.5% increase in data traffic over the year. Furthermore, Airtel Money continues to support financial inclusion with customers increasing 17.3% to 44.6 million and an expanding ecosystem underpinning the $136bn transaction value, which increased 32% in constant currency.”

Financial performance

The group returned revenues of $4.955 billion, indicating a growth of 21.1% in constant currency. However, this was a decline of 0.5% in reported currency as currency devaluation impacted reported revenues. Strong execution and the tariff adjustments in Nigeria contributed to a further quarter of accelerating growth, with the fourth quarter of 2025 revenue growth of 23.2% in constant currency, and 17.8% in reported currency as currency headwinds eased.

Across the Group, mobile services revenue grew by 19.6% in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 10.6% and data revenue growth of 30.5%. Mobile money revenue grew by 29.9% in constant currency.

For the year ended 31 March 2025, underlying EBITDA declined by 5.1% in reported currency to $2.304 billion with underlying EBITDA margins of 46.5% compared to 48.8% in the prior year, impacted by increased fuel prices and the lower contribution of Nigeria to the Group. However, following a more stable operating environment and benefits from our cost efficiency programme, underlying EBITDA margins have expanded from 45.3% in the first quarter of 2025 to 47.3% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Final dividend

The Board has recommended a final dividend of 3.9 cents per share, making the total dividend for the full year 6.5 cents per share, a 9.2% growth from the previous year, in line with the dividend policy. In addition, during the year, the group returned $120 million to shareholders through share buyback programmes.

“This accelerating revenue growth and cost optimisation programme has supported quarterly EBITDA margin expansion during the year. Underlying EBITDA margins increased by 200bps from 45.3% in Q1’25 to 47.3% in Q4’25, and we remain focussed on further EBITDA margin improvements subject to macroeconomic stability. This, combined with our robust capital structure and disciplined capital allocation, puts us in a strong position to continue investing in network capacity to deliver continued growth,” stated Taldar.

“We are making significant progress in our preparations for the Airtel Money IPO and remain committed to this objective. However, we are also mindful of evolving market conditions. Therefore, subject to these conditions, we anticipate a listing event in the first half of calendar year 2026.”

Airtel Africa is a leading provider of telecoms and mobile money services, with operations in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa – that is Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia, Seychelles, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, DRC, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, and Gabon. 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.