Airtel Africa’s profit after tax grew to $586 million in the nine months ended December 31, 2025, up from $248 million in the corresponding period of 2024.

According to the company’s nine-month financial results released on Friday, the higher profit after tax in the current period was driven by higher operating profit and derivative and foreign exchange gains of $99 million, as compared to $153 million in derivative and foreign exchange losses in the prior period.

It disclosed that the group’s revenues in reported currency increased by 28.3 percent to $4,667 million, with constant currency growth of 24.6 percent. Reported currency revenue growth at a premium to constant currency growth reflects currency appreciation in key markets. In Q3’26, constant currency revenue growth improved to 24.7 percent from 24.2 percent in the previous quarter (Q2’26).

“Constant currency revenue growth was supported by tariff adjustments driving a 50.6 percent growth in Nigeria and a strong performance in Francophone Africa, which saw revenues accelerate to 17.0 percent in the nine months.”

In Nigeria, revenue grew by 50.4 percent in constant currency, largely driven by continued strength in the demand for data services, further supported by the tariff adjustments. The constant currency revenue growth was driven by ARPU growth of 39.6 percent and customer base growth of 7.8 percent.

“In reported currency, revenue grew by 52.1 percent to $1,123 million, with Q3’26 revenue growth accelerating to 70.9 percent compared to constant currency growth of 52.9 percent.

“Significantly higher reported currency growth during the quarter compared to constant currency growth was due to the appreciation in Nigerian naira from a weighted average NGN/USD rate of 1,627 in Q3’25 to NGN/USD 1,456 in the current quarter,” it disclosed.

Insights from Airtel’s financials revealed that voice revenue in Nigeria grew by 35.8 percent in constant currency, driven by voice ARPU growth of 26.0 percent, reflecting the tariff adjustments earlier in the year.

Data revenue also grew by 65.4 percent in constant currency as a function of both data customer and data ARPU growth of 8.0 percent and 49.7 percent, respectively. Data usage per customer increased by 26.2 percent to 10.7 GB per month (from 8.4 GB in the prior period), with smartphone penetration increasing 4.6 percent to reach 54.1 percent. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 13.4 GB per month compared to 11.2 GB per month in the prior period.

Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, said these results highlight the strength of our strategy, with strong operating and financial trends across the business.

He added that “During the quarter, we accelerated investment to enhance coverage and data capacity while also expanding our fibre network. 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 services, allowing us to unlock the strong demand across our markets.

Smartphone adoption continues to increase with a penetration of 48.1 percent, and we are seeing solid progress in the 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 $210 billion in Q3’26 underscores the depth of our merchants, agents, and partner ecosystem and remains a key player 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 percent, underpinning constant currency EBITDA growth of 31 percent, and we remain focused on driving further incremental margin improvements.

“Our strategic priorities remain clear: to continue investing in best-in-class connectivity, accelerate financial inclusion through our mobile money platform, and deliver an exceptional customer experience. These results reinforce our confidence in the long-term potential of our markets and our ability to create value for all our stakeholders,” he added.

David Adeoye Abodunrin, Africa’s foremost AI transformations coach and internationally recognised futurist, has declared that the continent’s immense potential can only be unlocked when purpose is aligned with strategic intelligence.

David Adeoye Abodunrin

Speaking to ICT editors in Lagos, Abodunrin—renowned for nearly three decades of multidisciplinary expertise spanning artificial intelligence disruption, digital governance, behavioural intelligence, cybersecurity, and human capital transformation—said Africa must embrace AI as a transformational frontier rather than a mere tool.

“AI is not merely a tool, it is a transformational frontier that can unlock prosperity, resilience and leadership for Africans in the global digital era,” Abodunrin stated.

Abodunrin, widely sought after by C-suite executives, policymakers, founders and institutional boards, is recognised internationally as a foresight architect and strategic transformation coach. His mission, he explained, is to help individuals, governments and organisations engineer strategic advantage through anticipatory intelligence and ethically aligned innovation.

His work focuses on decoding emergent AI and intelligence systems that reshape markets, redefine competitive advantage, and enable sovereign digital ecosystems.

He is also a 14-time international bestselling author whose frameworks integrate behavioural psychology, foresight strategy and digital sovereignty to prepare leaders for future complexities. Through his organisations, including Cubed Integrated Consulting and Cyberfore Consulting, Abodunrin equips governments, boards, and enterprises with tools to build secure, future-ready institutions that thrive amid volatility.

He stressed that Africa’s transformation must be rooted in local contexts and values, not imported wholesale from global models.

“In Africa, transformation must not just follow global models, it must reflect our cultures, our challenges and our collective aspirations,” he emphasised. “This continent holds immense potential; we simply need to align purpose with strategic intelligence to unlock it.”

His coaching and advisory services emphasise strategic AI governance tailored for African economies, executive and leadership transformation for sustained institutional resilience, digital and cyber intelligence frameworks to protect sovereign infrastructure, and behavioural intelligence and insights for inclusive growth and innovation.

Despite his international recognition, Abodunrin insists that his philosophy centres on African solutions for African realities—developing local talent, embedding ethical AI adoption, and fostering foresight strategies that account for Africa’s unique socio-economic ecosystems.

Federal government is preparing for the acquisition of two new communication satellites as it advances a nationwide fibre-optic rollout.

Bosun Tijani, minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy, made the announcement during a press briefing in Abuja commemorating Global Privacy Day 2026, which was hosted by the Nigerian Data Protection Commission.

The minister said the national fibre-optic backbone, which is expected to cover 90,000 kilometres, is nearly 60% complete.

The project aims to expand high-capacity broadband across the country, reduce the cost of internet access and improve service quality for businesses, public institutions and households.

According to Tijani, the fibre rollout is central to the government’s digital economy strategy, providing physical infrastructure required for e-government services, digital financial inclusion, innovation hubs and private sector investment.

He added that extending fibre deeper into underserved areas would help narrow Nigeria’s persistent urban-rural connectivity divide.

Alongside the terrestrial network, the federal executive council has also approved the procurement of two additional communication satellites to strengthen Nigeria’s space-based communications capacity.

The satellites are expected to enhance broadband coverage in remote and hard-to-reach regions, support broadcasting and improve data resilience for critical national services.

Tijani emphasised the satellite investment will complement the fibre network by providing redundancy and last-mile connectivity where laying cables is commercially or geographically challenging.

The combined approach, he said, will make Nigeria’s digital infrastructure more resilient and inclusive and will particularly close long-standing connectivity gaps.

By expanding broadband access and modernising communications infrastructure, authorities believe Nigeria can unlock new opportunities across sectors including technology, education, healthcare and commerce.

The initiatives are being implemented amid efforts to attract private investment and improve policy coordination across federal and state agencies.