Airtel Nigeria earns ₦3,771 from each subscriber as revenue hits ₦1.37 trillion in H1 2026

Telecoms company Airtel Nigeria has reported an average revenue per user (ARPU) of ₦3,771 ($2.8) during the first half of 2026, covering April to September. The per-subscriber return signals a 28.7% year-on-year (YoY) increase from the ₦2,969 ($2.2) recorded in H1 2025. 

This is according to a corporate filing by Airtel Africa on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) on Friday.

For its half-year ended September 2026, Airtel Nigeria’s revenue grew by 45% to ₦1.37 trillion ($1.014 billion), surpassing the ₦941.2 billion ($699 million) generated in the same period last year. It shows how Airtel Nigeria maintained its position as a major growth engine for the African telecoms group, delivering strong growth across all revenue streams.

Revenue from data expanded by 52.7% to ₦732.6 billion ($544 million), up from ₦480.7 billion ($357 million), reflecting increasing smartphone penetration and growing data consumption. It shows how data continues to drive earnings growth for telecom operators.

Also, Airtel Nigeria’s voice revenue grew 37.8% to ₦498.24 billion ($370 million) while underlying EBITDA increased 50.2% to ₦793.15 billion ($589 million), with the EBITDA margin expanding to 58.1%.

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Total customer base stood at 61.7 million, a 15.1% surge from 53.6 million in the previous period, while internet subscribers have now reached 32.9 million from 29.5 million. 

Airtel Money 

Compared to other regional markets, the group’s mobile money operation in Nigeria continues to struggle amid tough competition from big fintech giants and other mobile money operations. 

However, Airtel Money in Nigeria saw a 176.4% surge in revenue to $10 million from ₦5.39 billion ($4 million) in the previous period, attributed to its IPO offer and continued penetration in Nigeria. The customer base stood at 4.2 million, compared to 44.1 million in East Africa and 12.6 million in Francophone Africa. 

For the group, the mobile money profit after tax rose to ₦307 billion ($228 million) in the six months ended September 2026. This was accompanied by revenue of $ 830 million, up 34% YoY. 

Airtel Money’s customer base reached 56.7 million, increasing its penetration. The group said around 75 million Airtel subscribers are not yet using Mobile Money, providing an opportunity to expand adoption. 

Airtel Africa 

Overall group profit after tax for the six months climbed 20.5% to $452 million from $376 million recorded in the same period of the previous year. Operating profit also expanded significantly by 34.2% to $1.286 billion.

While reacting to the earnings, Sunil Taldar, Chief Executive Officer at Airtel Africa, noted that the company delivered another strong operating and financial performance that reflects the depth of demand across its markets. He mentioned that the operator’s total customer growth “remained strong and stable at 11.6%.”

“Despite rising fuel costs continuing to exert inflationary pressure on our cost base, we delivered a record underlying EBITDA margin through a combination of operational discipline, ongoing cost efficiency programmes and continued scale benefits,” he added in the earnings report. 

Total revenue increased by 28.2% in reported currency to reach $3.823 billion for the half-year, compared to $2.982 billion in the previous year. EBITDA rose 32.8% to $1.921 billion, with the underlying EBITDA margin expanding by 172 basis points to 50.3%.

The group’s total customer base grew 11.6%, reaching 193.9 million customers, with a 15% growth in the data customer base to 89.9 million. In terms of infrastructure deployment, Airtel said it spent ₦884.8 billion ($657 million) on CAPEX and added 4,200 sites during the half-year to September 2026. 

Looking ahead, Airtel Africa said it plans to accelerate capital expenditure to capture future market opportunities.

“Our confidence in the growth trajectory of the business and the significant long-term opportunity across our markets underpins our decision to accelerate investment,” Sunil Taldar said. 

Note: All conversations are based on the trading rate ($1 to N1346.8600) of Friday, October 30, 2026.