Airtel Africa’s First-Quarter Profit Surges Fivefold
Airtel Africa, the second-biggest telecommunications company in Nigeria, posted a profit after tax of $153 million in the three months through June compared to $31 million a year earlier.
Its profit before tax jumped to $273 million during the quarter ended 30 June 2025 from $74 million in the prior period, according to its earnings report released on Thursday.
“Higher profit before tax in current period as compared to prior period was on account of higher operating profit and derivative and foreign exchange gains of $22m in current period as compared to $136m derivative and foreign exchange losses in the prior period,” the telco said.
Sunil Taldar, chief executive officer, said the strength of the performance and the scale of the growth achieved reflected “the sustained demand for our services and the strength of our business model to meet these demands”.
“Operationally, the acceleration in customer base growth to 9%, and 17.4% growth in our data customers to 75.6 million reflects the strong on-ground execution with a relentless focus on digitisation and the simplification of the customer experience,” he said. “Our strategy continues to prioritise the customer experience, as demonstrated by the launch of Airtel Spam Alert—an AI-powered solution aimed at enhancing trust and delivering a safer network environment.”
Taldar pointed out that with smartphone penetration at only 45.9%, Airtel see significant headroom to drive further adoption and play a key role in bridging the digital divide.
