Data earnings power Airtel Nigeria’s revenue to $1.13bn for 9 months ending Dec’25

Telecoms company, Airtel Nigeria, has recorded a 52.2% year-on-year (YoY) surge in revenue to $1.13 billion for the 9 months ending December 2025. The strong financial result was fueled by data earnings, which generated $576 million in revenue.

According to the financial statement made available on Friday on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the revenue was largely fueled by an increase in demand for data services. Since the 50% telecoms tariff adjustment, the telecoms operator has seen its data earnings spike with a latest growth of 67.4% in reported currency.

In the same light, data usage per customer grew by 26.2% to 10.7 GB per month, up from 8.4 GB in the prior period, with smartphone penetration increasing 4.6% to 54.1%. Also, smartphone data usage per customer reached 13.4 GB per month compared to 11.2 GB per month in the prior period.

The data earning and usage performance further reveals the increase in the time subscribers spent online. This is further driven by a spike in smartphone penetration, financial inclusion, and how the digital divide is adjusting. 

Another leading contribution to the company’s revenue is voice earnings, which grew by almost 37% to $432 million. This was always largely driven by tariff adjustment and an increase in the subscriber base. 

Airtel Nigeria now has a customer base of 56.2 million, the highest across Airtel’s 14 African markets. Of its total subscriber base, internet users increased by 8.0% from 28.2 million to 30.5 million. 

EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortisation) increased by 77.6% in reported currency to $640 million, while EBITDA margin increased 821 basis points to 57.0%, driven by the strong revenue growth. The report also attributed the strong margin performance to stable fuel prices and more favourable operating conditions in Nigeria. 

In addition, the company’s performance during the period under review was further supported by the appreciation in Nigerian naira. During the second half of 2025, the naira averaged a NGN/USD rate of 1,627 in Q3’ 25 to NGN/USD 1,456 in Q4’ 25.

The telecoms operator saw $155 million from other revenue, including value-added services, e-commerce, partnerships, and SMS.

For the period Q3 ’25 to Q4′ 25, the telco saw a total revenue of $426 million, a 70.9% YoY increase. 

Further breakdown shows $164 million revenue from voice, $219 million from data earnings and $2 million from mobile money. Other revenues raked in $43 million, and the EBITDA margin of 57.8%.

Also Read: MTN and Airtel lose $7 million in Uganda as social media access is finally restored.

Airtel’s mobile money’s struggle continues in Nigeria’s 

Airtel Mobile Money (Smartcash Psb) continues to experience slow growth in the Nigerian market compared to the East and Francophone markets. This is mainly attributed to high competition in the Nigerian market with players like MoMo PSB, Moniepoint, OPay, Kuda, Palmpay and other fintechs.

In the 9 months ending December 2025 report, Airtel Nigeria’s mobile money revenue jumped from $3 million to $6 million, representing a 124.2% increase in reported currency change. While the surge seemed huge in number, it holds a share of 0.61% across Airtel’s $986 revenue across its 14 markets in Africa.

However, Airtel Nigeria reported a 50.1% YoY increase in mobile money customer base from 1.5 million to 2.2 million, signalling the growing influence of the operation in Nigeria. Meanwhile, this is still low compared to 40.2 million in its East African region and 9.6 million in Francophone Africa.

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