Airtel Africa Q2 profit rises 16% to $254 million

The performance helped offset higher finance costs and inflationary pressure from rising fuel prices.

The company's September-quarter revenue rose 25.7% in reported currency to $1.97 billion, while growth in constant currency stood at 20.6%. The difference was partly driven by appreciation in currencies such as the Nigerian naira and Zambian kwacha.

Operating profit increased 28.5% to $659 million while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) rose 29.4% to $993 million. The underlying Ebitda margin expanded 144 basis points year-on-year to 50.4%, its highest level, supported by operating leverage and cost-efficiency measures.

"Despite rising fuel costs continuing to exert inflationary pressure on our cost base, we delivered a record underlying Ebitda margin of 50.4% in Q2'27 through a combination of operational discipline, ongoing cost efficiency programmes and continued scale benefits," Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa, said.

The company's customer base expanded 11.6% year-on-year to 193.9 million, while its data customer base grew 15% to 89.9 million. The company's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance metric, rose 12.2% to $3.4 in reported currency and 7.6% in constant currency.

Data revenue during the quarter grew 34.2% in reported currency to $821 million, with constant currency growth of 28.7%. The data customer base expanded 15% year-on-year to 89.9 million. Smartphone penetration increased to 51.6%, while smartphone data usage per customer rose to 13.3 GB per month from 10.1 GB in the year-ago period.