Airtel Africa, the London-listed telecommunications carrier serving 14 African markets, posted a $1.41 billion full-year profit, more than doubling the previous year’s $623 million, as a rapidly expanding customer base and higher-margin mobile money operations reshaped its earnings profile.
The FTSE 250 group said revenue rose 11.5% to $5.27 billion for the 12 months through March, beating analyst consensus compiled by Bloomberg. The performance was buoyed by a 9.2% increase in voice and data subscribers and a 28% jump in mobile money transaction value, which topped $112 billion.
“Our ongoing investment in network infrastructure and digital financial services continues to drive both customer loyalty and average revenue per user,” chief executive Olusegun Ogunsanya said in a statement. He noted that currency volatility in Nigeria and East Africa remained a headwind, but that price adjustments and cost discipline had largely offset the impact.
Airtel Africa’s mobile money arm, now operating under a newly unified brand, contributed nearly $690 million in revenue, up 26% on a constant-currency basis. The division has become a key differentiator in a crowded telecom landscape, where rivals like MTN Group are also racing to capture unbanked populations.
Investors welcomed the results, sending the company’s London-traded shares up 4.2% in early trading. Analysts at Jefferies highlighted that free cash flow grew to $636 million, providing firepower for further debt reduction and tower sales.
Looking ahead, management guided for mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth in constant-currency terms for the coming year, with mobile money expected to outpace core telecoms. The company also reaffirmed plans to list its mobile money business separately, potentially in London or Lagos, within 18 months.
Broader implications for the African telecom sector are clear: data consumption and fintech integration are now the primary engines of value, even as regulatory and currency risks persist. Airtel Africa’s results underscore a shift from purely connectivity-focused models to diversified digital ecosystems, a template likely to be closely watched by global institutional investors rotating into frontier markets.
