KAMPALA, UGANDA — Airtel’s East Africa operations reported strong first-quarter earnings in 2025, primarily driven by surging data consumption and robust growth in its mobile money segment. Mobile services revenue for the region climbed to $498 million, up from $423 million in the same period last year.
Data usage across the network increased by a significant 47.4%, while the number of data customers expanded by 17.4% to 75.6 million. This growth was bolstered by strategic investments in network infrastructure, including the rollout of 1,244 5G-enabled sites across four countries and a 4.3% rise in smartphone penetration to 45.9%. Data revenue alone reached $207 million, up from $170 million.
Airtel’s mobile money segment also posted solid gains across East Africa, encompassing Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia and Malawi. Revenue from Airtel Money in these countries rose to $216 million in Q1 2025, compared to $167 million a year earlier. This contributed substantially to the company’s total mobile money revenue of $290 million, reflecting increasing adoption of digital financial services.
“The strength of this performance and the scale of the growth we achieved reflect the sustained demand for our services and the robustness of our business model in meeting these demands,” said Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa. He emphasized that the acceleration in customer base growth, particularly for data customers, highlights strong execution with a focus on digitalization and customer experience.
Voice revenue also saw an increase, reaching $245 million from $210 million, supported by a 9.8% growth in the overall customer base. The appreciation of the Ugandan shilling further boosted Airtel’s reported currency figures, contributing to reported revenue growth outpacing constant currency growth of 16.9%.
Group-wide, Airtel Africa’s total customer base grew 9.0% to 169.4 million. Data Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) increased by 18.5% in constant currency, reflecting the strong demand for mobile internet services.
Taldar underscored ongoing network investments, with more than 2,300 new sites deployed, bringing the total to 37,579 sites, and a fiber network expansion of 2,700 km to over 79,600 km. This investment has increased data capacity, with 4G population coverage now at 74.7%, up 3.4% from a year ago.
Airtel Africa closed the quarter with total revenue growth of $1.42 billion, a 22.4% increase in reported currency, with data now contributing nearly half of mobile services revenue.
