The mobile services market in sub-Saharan Africa continues to evolve and grow, driven in large part by young, growing populations seeking reliable voice and data experiences at the right price. There is still considerable untapped opportunity for growth through connecting new customers and the GSMA reported in 2024 that unique mobile subscribers and mobile internet users in sub-Saharan Africa are forecast to increase at CAGRs of 4.5% and 6.2% respectively to 2030.

We're working to close the 'usage gap' caused by the continent's low smartphone penetration relative to other regions, currently 57% compared to the global average of 82%. But there is also a clear opportunity to drive data usage by providing secure, high-quality, affordable experiences to existing smartphone owners.

This year, we continued to deepen and broaden the experience we offer our customers, responding to their feedback and listening closely to our customer focus groups. This included rapidly expanding our home broadband (HBB) offerings, upgrading our services and expanding the reach of our network, with 4G coverage now reaching 75.6% of the population and 5G sites in six and spectrum in seven markets. We also worked to increase access to 4G-enabled smartphones through handset subsidies and financing initiatives, bringing more people in semi-urban and rural areas into the digital ecosystem.

We grew our customer base by 10.5% to 183.5 million in 2025/26, with data usage increasing by 48.5%. This growth was underpinned by a focus on our exclusive distribution infrastructure, which expanded by 6.1% to 117,000 outlets, alongside improvements to our processes such as our new digital sales app for vendors. And we continued to look for new ways to improve connectivity for our customers – including through our agreement with SpaceX to introduce Starlink ‘Direct-to-Cell’ satellite connectivity across all 14 markets, announced in December 2025.

Overall revenue from mobile services increased by 27.6% in reported currency and by 22.6% in constant currency, with growth evident across all regions and services.

Voice revenue grew by 12.8% in constant currency, supported primarily by growth in the customer base of 10.5% as we continue to invest in our network and distribution infrastructure. Voice ARPU grew by 2.6%. Total minutes on the network grew by 5.3% while voice usage per customer was 287 minutes.

Data revenue grew by 35.2% in constant currency, driven by both data customer base growth of 14.8% and data ARPU growth of 16.2%. The customer base growth was recorded across all regions and data traffic across our network continued to see strong growth of 48.5%. Data usage per customer increased to 8.9 GB per customer per month (from 7.0 GB in the prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing 4.7% to reach 49.5%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 10.9 GB per month compared to 8.8 GB per month in the prior period. As of 31 March 2026, 5G is operational across six markets following the rollout in Malawi in Q4'26, with 3,116 sites deployed across our network. Data revenue contributed to 47.3% of total mobile services revenue, up from 43.0% in the prior period.

Underlying EBITDA was $2,612m, up 36.7% in reported currency and 30.8% in constant currency. The underlying EBITDA margin improved by 327 basis points year-on-year to 48.8%, following our strong revenue performance, a more stable operating environment and continued benefits from our ongoing cost efficiency programme.

Operating free cash flow was $1,802m, up by 30.8% in constant currency, due to the increased constant currency underlying EBITDA partially offset by higher capex during the period.

Demand for reliable, high-speed data continues to grow among the young, digitally engaged population of Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and our biggest single market. In an improving economic and regulatory environment, we responded to this demand this year through disciplined investment in our networks and distribution ecosystems, enhancing customer experience through greater reach, more secure and reliable connections and easier access to our services.

With a median age of 18.1 years, Nigeria has one of the world's most youthful populations and a rapidly expanding digital economy that is contributing around 20% of Nigeria's real GDP growth, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). Data used by our customers reflects this, showing a 43.4% increase year-on-year. We significantly enhanced our network to cater to this demand, adding over 1,050 new sites and 657 5G sites, alongside enhanced access to 4G spectrum. The quality of our services also improved, including through the uptake of our 'Spam alert' service, launched in March 2025. Our home broadband (HBB) offering continued to show very strong growth, while smartphone penetration also grew to 54.9% from 49.6% in 2024/25.

As well as doubling the number of our directly owned retail touchpoints, we applied new AI tools to speed up the know-your-customer (KYC) onboarding process. This made it easier for customers to access our services, though this was offset by slowdowns in customer additions as we adjusted to regulations restricting the number of SIM-cards our sales partners could register to individual users and changes in the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) process.

While inflationary pressures have eased in Nigeria and operating conditions for telecoms businesses improved following government’s approval for tariff adjustments in January 2025, we remain committed to cost optimisation. We maintained our commitment to communities by awarding 100 fully funded university scholarships to STEM students across seven federal universities, supporting the next generation of talent. In addition, through the Airtel Africa Foundation, we supported the training programme for 25,000 young Nigerians under the Federal Government’s 3MTT programme.

Revenue grew by 47.4% in constant currency, largely driven by continued strength in the demand for data services and supported by tariff adjustments. The constant currency revenue growth was driven by ARPU growth of 36.7% and customer base growth of 9.4%. In Q4’26, constant currency growth slowed compared to Q3’26 as we lapped the impact of tariff adjustments which were implemented in Q4’25.

In reported currency, revenue grew by 52.8% to $1,598m with Q4’26 revenue growth at 54.7%. Higher reported currency growth in Q4'26 compared to constant currency growth was due to the appreciation in the Nigerian naira from a weighted average NGN/USD rate of 1,529 in Q4’25 to NGN/USD 1,386 in Q4'26.

Voice revenue grew by 32.2% in constant currency, driven by voice ARPU growth of 22.5% primarily reflecting the tariff adjustments earlier in the year.

Data revenue grew by 63.6% in constant currency as a function of both data customer and data ARPU growth of 8.1% and 49.2% respectively. Data usage per customer increased by 30.8% to 11.0 GB per month (from 8.4 GB in the prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing by 5.3% to reach 54.9%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 13.7 GB per month compared to 11.1 GB per month in the prior period.

Underlying EBITDA of $924m improved by 76.8% in reported currency and by 70.3% in constant currency. The underlying EBITDA margin increased 785 basis points to 57.8%, driven by strong revenue growth and continued benefits arising from our cost efficiency programme, supported by stable fuel prices.

Operating free cash flow was $675m, up by 80.7% in constant currency and 90.3% in reported currency. This was driven primarily by the strong underlying EBITDA growth, partially offset by higher capex.

We operate in an evolving legal and regulatory landscape. Relevant changes in Nigeria this year include:

Know your customer (KYC)

Following a Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) investigation into mass SIM-card registrations in Kano, Airtel Nigeria was directed in January 2025 to suspend third-party SIM-card registrations and rely solely on its own shops and employees. ​In July 2025, the NCC issued further directives to bar fraudulent SIM-cards, enforce geo-fencing and strengthen controls. Due to NCC findings, the NCC directed Airtel Nigeria to suspend SIM-card registrations in the state for 30 days. The suspension was lifted in October 2025.

Spectrum

Airtel Nigeria entered into a spectrum lease agreement with Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS) for 10MHz of spectrum in the 2100MHz band over a period of three years from 1 December 2025 to 30 November 2028.

East Africa is achieving the fastest GDP growth in the continent, with the UN estimating growth of 5.4% in 2025 and projecting 5.8% in 2026. Our six markets in the region include some of the most youthful and dynamic digital economies in Africa – but despite the rapid uptake of data and mobile services, smartphone penetration stands at 46.6% and only 0.5% of total customers access home broadband (HBB) services, – so there is still a clear runway for growth.

We aim to harness that potential by enhancing the experience of our customers through stronger, safer and more resilient networks and by expanding our distribution and customer service offers through both physical outlets and digital tools. In 2025/26, that included rolling out 1,500 new 4G sites and adding 993 5G sites while expanding our fibre cable network and applying granular insights at a very localised level to close coverage gaps. As well as extending our reach and reducing outages, this supported our focus on HBB, our fastest-growing product across the region. Spam alerts, anti-fraud message services and self-service offers all improved the customer experience.

Our distribution reach also continued to expand and, in a highly competitive region, we maintained growth of our customer base while increasing smartphone penetration through partnerships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), device financing initiatives, smartphone promotions and segmented bundles.

At the same time, we navigated a number of headwinds in our markets. Fuel shortages and extreme weather incidents created pressure on our network at times and foreign exchange volatility had an impact in Malawi and Tanzania, in particular. Overall, however, we mitigated these risks and delivered another year of revenue and ARPU growth while continuing to deliver the essential mobile services that are transforming lives in our region.

East Africa revenue grew by 18.9% in reported currency to $2,192m and by 13.8% in constant currency. Higher reported currency revenue growth as compared to constant currency was primarily due to appreciation in the Zambian kwacha, Ugandan shilling and Tanzanian shilling. The constant currency growth was made up of voice revenue growth of 12.5% and data revenue growth of 18.0%.

Voice revenue growth was supported by customer base growth of 8.7% and voice ARPU growth of 2.2%. Customer base growth was largely driven by expansion of both network coverage and our distribution network.

Data customer base growth of 15.7% and data traffic growth of 50.3% were the primary drivers of data revenue growth. We continue to invest in our network and expand our 4G and 5G network services in the region. Over 2,200 sites are 5G enabled across five key markets, following the rollout of 5G services in Malawi in Q4’26. Data usage per customer increased to 8.0 GB per customer per month, up by 28.0%, with smartphone penetration increasing by 4.3% to reach 46.6%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 9.8 GB per month compared to 7.8 GB per month in the prior period.

Underlying EBITDA increased to $1,063m, up by 21.3% in reported currency and by 14.9% in constant currency. Underlying EBITDA margins of 48.5% compared to 47.6% in the prior period, up by 93 bps.

Operating free cash flow was $732m, up by 15.6% in constant currency, largely due to underlying EBITDA growth, although partially offset by higher capex.

We operate in an evolving legal and regulatory landscape. Relevant changes in East Africa this year include:

Spectrum

Malawi
In November 2025, Airtel Malawi was assigned 10 MHz in the 800 MHz band and a further 10 MHz in the 2600 MHz band.

Tanzania
In December 2025, Airtel Tanzania received amended licences for the 700 MHz, 2600 MHz and 3500 MHz bands, formally aligning the spectrum fee payment obligations with the Foreign Currency Regulations 2025, confirming that all associated administrative fees must be denominated and settled in Tanzanian shillings going forward.

The seven countries in our Francophone Africa segment represent a highly attractive structural growth market. In a region with limited telecoms infrastructure, most people are entirely reliant on mobile services to access connections to each other and the digital economy. The opportunity to increase digital inclusion is huge – and by focusing on expanding our networks to provide affordable data access while enhancing customers’ experience, we're delivering strong growth in customer numbers and revenues.

This year we continued to modernise our networks through 4G upgrades, new sites and additional fibre rollouts. Proactive monitoring and maintenance improved the resilience of our service. Demand for home broadband (HBB) accelerated rapidly, supported by our stronger networks, satellite services and technology solutions that ensure customers remain connected during power fluctuations. Our partnership with Starlink (see Mobile services) will add further momentum, significantly boosting connectivity in Francophone Africa's large, rural and forested geographies.

We supported this network expansion by reinforcing our go-to-market execution, expanding our SIM-card distribution network and increasing our use of digital sales tools.

We did face a number of headwinds in some markets in 2025/26, including insecurity, supply chain challenges and cost-of-living pressures for customers. A combination of strong business continuity planning, diversified power sources, including solar, and sharper pricing and marketing campaigns helped offset these headwinds. And our focus on customer experience helped attract 3.5 million new data customers and grew our overall customer base by 16.3%.

Revenue grew by 19.2% in reported currency and by 14.8% in constant currency. Higher reported currency revenue growth compared to constant currency was due to an appreciation in the CFA.  This year's growth of 14.8% in constant currency demonstrates a significant improvement from 7.9% in the prior year. This follows a recovery in market trends and the benefits of sustained network investment and intensive focus on ‘go-to-market’ initiatives.

Voice revenue declined by 0.8% in constant currency as customer base growth of 16.3% was more than offset by a decline in voice ARPU reflecting interconnect rate reductions.

Data revenue grew by 33.8% in constant currency, supported by data customer base growth of 27.6%. Our continued 4G network rollout supported an increase in total data traffic of 62.2%, with data usage per customer growing by 25.3%. Furthermore, 93.6% of sites are now on 4G as compared to 87.7% in the prior period. Data usage per customer increased to 6.8 GB per month (up from 5.4 GB in the prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing by 4.6% to reach 47.7% as of 31 March 2026. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 8.1 GB per month compared to 6.5 GB per month in the prior period.

Underlying EBITDA of $618m increased by 22.4% and 18.1% in reported and constant currency, respectively. The underlying EBITDA margin improved to 39.9%, an increase of 105 basis points, driven by continued strong revenue growth.

Operating free cash flow of $393m increased by 7.7% in constant currency, due to the increase in underlying EBITDA, partially offset by higher capex.

We operate in an evolving legal and regulatory landscape. Relevant changes in Francophone Africa this year include:

Mobile termination regulation (MTR)

The Democratic Republic of Congo
In March 2025, the regulator set the mobile termination rate (MTR) for the period 2025 and 2026 as $0.01 and $0.005, respectively.

The Republic of Congo
In June 2025, the regulator set voice mobile termination rates for 2025 at Congo Telecom CFA5, MTN CFA4.5 and Airtel Congo B CFA5.5 and for 2026 at Congo Telecom CFA4.5, MTN CFA4 and Airtel Congo B CFA5.

Chad
In July 2025, the regulator issued the new MTR glidepath for voice at CFA5 in 2025, CFA3 in 2026 and CFA2.5 in 2027.

Spectrum

Niger
In December 2025, Airtel Niger acquired 1MHz in the 1800MHz band and 20MHz in the 2600MHz band at a cost of approximately $1.3m.

The mobile money opportunity continues to grow rapidly, with the GSMA's 2026 State of the Industry report recording mobile money total processed value growth of 26% for sub-Saharan Africa in 2025. Further, there are 2.3 billion registered mobile money accounts globally out of which 1.2 billion accounts are in sub-Saharan Africa 18% more than the previous year. Airtel Money is at the heart of this transformation – and we're focused on accelerating financial inclusion in our markets by deepening adoption, increasing everyday use cases and strengthening the digital payments ecosystem for customers.

MyAirtel app continues to be a key tool for driving higher penetration and transaction frequency by making access to financial services simpler and more digitised. We refreshed MyAirtel app in 2025/26, rolling out the improved version across all markets by year-end. The adoption of MyAirtel app reached 8.7% of our transacting customers by the end of 2025/26, an increase of 2.6% year-on-year.

At the same time, we scaled up the rollout of services for merchant customers, enabling more small businesses to accept digital payments while deepening our portfolio of products which now include bill payments and remittances, savings, credit and insurance. This growth in use cases helps build the financial ecosystem further.

This strategy is underpinned by a physical and virtual distribution platform which continues to expand and evolve to meet customer needs. Expansion of our Airtel Money branches (AMBs) and kiosks along with enhancements to MyAirtel app delivered a simpler, faster and more intuitive customer experience. We're using AI to improve our sales and customer service processes and digital self-recharge and top-ups continued to grow.

We continue to develop strategic partnerships in key product areas, including international money transfers (IMT), credit and value-added financial services. In 2025/26, this included our partnership with fintech service providers to offer digital loan overdraft solutions to Airtel Money customers.

Mobile money revenue grew by 36.3% in reported currency, with constant currency revenues growing by 28.4%. During the period, East Africa revenue grew 26.1% and Francophone Africa revenue grew by 34.3% in constant currency. In Q4’26, Francophone Africa revenues grew by 38.9% in constant currency as we focused on key opportunities across the region. The expansion of our distribution network underpinned our 21.3% customer base growth, while ARPU growth of 8.6% in constant currency reflects the increased range of services on offer as we continue to expand the ecosystem.

A 14.4% increase in total processed value (TPV) per customer to $332 per customer per month reflects both the enhanced ecosystem and increased user engagement. Q4’26 annualised TPV exceeded $215bn in reported currency, with mobile money revenue contributing 21.1% of total Group revenue during the year ended 31 March 2026. This contribution includes cross-charge revenue from mobile services which is eliminated upon consolidation. 

Mobile money underlying EBITDA was $689m, up by 31.3% and 22.9% in reported and constant currency, respectively. The underlying EBITDA margin of 50.8%, a decline of 227 basis points in constant currency and 196 basis points in reported currency, primarily reflects the renegotiation of intra-group agreements as previously disclosed in our H1’26 results. The impact arising from intra-group agreement revisions will occur in phases. Adjusting for the impact of the revised intra‑group agreements, mobile money constant currency revenue growth would have been 31.6%, with underlying EBITDA margins of 53.1% in the year ended 31 March 2026. As these are intra-group arrangements, they will have no impact on the consolidated revenue, underlying EBITDA or growth outlook for the Group.

Operating free cash flow was $644m, up by 21.7% in constant currency, due to the increased underlying EBITDA, partially offset by higher capex.

We operate in an evolving legal and regulatory landscape. Relevant changes in mobile money this year include:

Mobile money levy

DRC
In March 2026, the Ministry of Finance issued an enforcement notice introducing a 10% levy on commissions earned by electronic money issuers from specified mobile money services. 

Malawi
On 2 December 2025, the Malawian Parliament passed the revised 2025/26 half-year national budget introducing a new levy on mobile money transfers of 0.05% above MWK100,000 and VAT increased by 1% to 17.5%, effective from 30 December 2025.

Zambia
The Mobile Money Transaction Levy (Amendment) Act 2025 brings into its ambit digital betting services, whose flows will now be subject to tax unless expressly exempted. In addition, the Government of Zambia has implemented the increase in the mobile money levy for person-to-person transactions by 100% for lower-value transactions and by more than 200% for high-value transactions.