Airtel Africa's Nigerian business earned $1.01 billion in revenue in the six months to 30 September 2026, up 45% from $699 million a year earlier, according to the group's half-year results, released on Friday, 30 October. In constant currency, which strips out exchange-rate moves, Nigeria grew 27%, the fastest of the group's three regions.
At Friday's official rate, the Nigerian revenue is about ₦1.37 trillion, up from ₦941.2 billion, Technext calculates. Part of the dollar jump comes from a stronger naira: Airtel says its average rate improved from ₦1,553 to the dollar in the same period of 2025 to ₦1,360 this year.
Data carries the growth
Data revenue rose 52.7% to $544 million, about ₦732.6 billion by Technext's conversion, and 33.8% in constant currency. Voice grew more slowly, up 37.8% to $370 million. Airtel says 56.8% of its Nigerian customers now use smartphones, and they used 16.7GB of data a month on average, up from 12.7GB a year earlier.
- Customers rose 15.1% to 61.7 million; data customers rose 11.8% to 32.9 million.
- Average revenue per user rose to $2.80, about ₦3,771 a month by Technext's conversion, up 12.7% in constant currency.
- Underlying EBITDA rose 50.2% to $589 million, a 58.1% margin.
- Mobile money revenue in Nigeria more than doubled to $10 million, with 4.2 million customers, still small next to OPay, Moniepoint and PalmPay.
Airtel says growth in the period reflects the full effect of the tariff increases it introduced in early 2025.
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Airtel spent $177 million on its Nigerian network in the half, up 139.9% from $74 million. The group added about 4,200 sites across its 14 markets. It also warned that fuel prices in Nigeria have doubled since the start of its financial year in April, which pushed the Nigerian EBITDA margin down from 58.8% in the first quarter to 57.5% in the second.
Across Africa, Airtel's revenue rose 28.2% to $3.82 billion and profit after tax rose to $452 million from $376 million. Chief executive Sunil Taldar said in the release that the company had "increased the pace of network investment to expand capacity and enhance service quality".
The numbers land in a busy week for Nigeria's telcos. MTN Nigeria reported a ₦1.17 trillion nine-month profit on the same day, and the House of Representatives has summoned the CEOs of MTN, Airtel, Glo and Mafab over poor service. Airtel answered the pressure this week with an open map of its network.
