Airtel Africa more than doubled its capital spending to $657 million in the six months to 30 September 2026, using it to push 4G and 5G coverage, lay fibre and build data centres as demand for data and digital payments keeps climbing.
The group, which operates in 14 sub-Saharan markets including Nigeria, said in its half-year results on 30 October that it added about 4,200 sites in the period.
It now has 193.9 million customers, up 11.6%. Of these, 89.9 million use data, up 15%.
Data usage rises
Smartphone penetration on the network rose 4.8 percentage points to 51.6%, and the number of smartphones on the network is now above 100 million.
Average smartphone data use reached 13.3GB per customer per month, from 10.1GB a year earlier.
Data revenue grew 28% in constant currency to $1.57 billion and now makes up half of mobile services revenue, up from 46.5%.
In Nigeria, the group's largest market, 56.8% of customers use smartphones and each uses 16.7GB a month, up from 12.7GB.
Nigerian data revenue grew 33.8% in constant currency, helped by 20.5% growth in data ARPU (average revenue per user) and 11.8% growth in data customers.
4G, 5G and fibre
4G: 99.2% of network sites are now 4G-enabled. In Francophone Africa the share is 97.4%, up from 93.3%. The company said it added more than 4,400 4G sites.
5G: The service is live in seven markets on about 4,100 sites. Airtel launched 5G in Gabon and the Seychelles during the period.
Fibre: The company added more than 2,000km, taking its footprint to over 83,000km.
Spectrum: Airtel Kenya bought 100MHz in the 3500MHz band for $65 million on a 25-year term.
In Nigeria, the Nigerian Communications Commission confirmed a ten-year renewal of Airtel's 900MHz spectrum for $37 million, payable in naira.
Airtel also has a partnership with Starlink to connect underserved rural communities.
The company said rural markets should contribute "a significant portion" of future customer additions and that it is extending coverage through new sites, spectrum and new technologies.
Data centres and broadband
Nxtra by Airtel Africa, the group's data centre arm, is building facilities in Nigeria and Kenya. The release gave no capacity, cost or completion dates. Airtel said Telesonic, its pan-African infrastructure business, is signing up partners.
In home broadband and enterprise services, the enterprise customer base grew by about 60%.
The company is using 5G and fibre-to-the-home or building, building its own sales and installation team, and adding ICT and digital services for businesses.
App and mobile money
Monthly active users of the MyAirtel app reached 14 million in September, from 8 million a year earlier.
App payments totalled $7.7 billion over the six months, up 75%, and transacting users rose 87%.
Monthly payments through the app passed $1.4 billion in September. Customers can also reach Airtel Money through WhatsApp in several languages.
|
Airtel Money measure |
Latest |
Change or comparison |
|---|---|---|
|
Customers |
60.9 million |
+22.4% |
|
App transacting customers |
6.6 million |
App penetration of smartphone base 19.9%, from 14.6% |
|
Active merchants |
over 587,000 |
+85.5% |
|
Active agents |
over 2.5 million |
+25.3% |
|
Annualised processed value, Q2 |
$275 billion |
+36.5% |
Mobile money now reaches 31.4% of Airtel's telecom customers, which leaves 133 million customers who do not use it. Airtel Money listed on the London Stock Exchange on 14 October, and Airtel Africa kept a 77.85% stake.
AI and risk
Chief executive Sunil Taldar said the company is "increasingly leveraging AI across the business to deepen customer understanding, accelerate innovation, simplify customer journeys and strengthen the detection of fraud and emerging threats". The release gave no detail on specific systems or results.
The company's own risk disclosure warns that AI-enabled attacks, such as automated phishing and bot-driven intrusions, are becoming harder to defend against.
It also flags that disruption to its financial platform, from technical failure, cyber incidents or third-party outages, could damage customer trust and bring regulatory exposure. As networks and payments scale together, both risks grow.
The bill
Mobile services capex rose 115% to $614 million. Lease-related finance costs rose with the site rollout, and operating free cash flow in Francophone Africa fell 21.6% to $164 million as spending outran earnings growth.
The company said it brought investment forward to improve coverage and capacity.
