Airtel Africa has raised its full-year capital expenditure plans to between $875 million and $900 million, the telco giant’s most aggressive funding cycle however. The expanded capex, combined with a landmark partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink to ship high-speed satellite tv for pc television for computer net, underlines Airtel’s method to cement its place on the centre of Africa’s digital monetary system.
The company’s latest half-year outcomes to September 2025 current the fruits of that method: group revenue rose 24.5% in mounted international cash to $2.98 billion, whereas EBITDA margins climbed to 49% inside the second quarter of 2026. CEO Sunil Taldar talked about the stronger effectivity has given Airtel the conceitedness to hurry up investments.
“Our method has been focused on providing a superior purchaser experience and establishing additional functionality to facilitate digital and financial inclusion,” he talked about. “The power of these outcomes gives us the conceitedness to increase our capex steering as we make investments to grab the entire potential all through our markets and ship long-term value for all stakeholders.”
The place the $900 million goes
About 87% of Airtel Africa’s annual capital expenditure is devoted to growth-focused initiatives that objective to broaden neighborhood functionality, modernise infrastructure, and strengthen connectivity all through its 14 working markets. This underscores the company’s aggressive drive to deepen its presence and enhance service prime quality all through Africa’s rapidly digitising economies.
The most important portion of this spending, estimated between $600 million and $650 million, is directed in direction of neighborhood and infrastructure build-out. This incorporates rising mobile tower web sites, extending fibre backhaul, and preparing for the deployment of next-generation utilized sciences equal to 4G and 5G. The target is to reinforce service reliability, improve tempo, and accommodate the rising information demand all through metropolis and rural areas.
Airtel has moreover made important investments in spectrum and licence renewals, spending about $152 million in FY 2024, along with $127 million for the renewal of its 3G licence in Nigeria, guaranteeing continued regulatory compliance and positioning the neighborhood to take care of future technological upgrades.
One different principal focus area is IT, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, the place Airtel is investing to modernise its information centres, enhance IT packages, and reinforce software program and API security. These enhancements are vital to supporting the company’s rising portfolio of digital suppliers and sustaining individual perception.
In addition to, a sizeable share of spending is dedicated to distribution networks and digital channels, along with agent-network growth, mobile app development, and omnichannel integration. These efforts are considerably important for Airtel Money, the company’s fast-growing fintech division, which relies on digital infrastructure and agent presence to broaden entry to financial suppliers.
In Nigeria, Airtel’s largest market, capital expenditure for Q2 2025 was reported at $39 million, representing about 1.7% of entire group capex for the quarter. This funding focused on incremental neighborhood enlargement and spectrum upgrades to assist the company’s ongoing digital and financial inclusion method.
Digital infrastructure and new horizons
The elevated funding comes at a time when information demand and smartphone utilization are hovering all through Africa. Smartphone penetration in Airtel’s footprint has climbed to 46.8%, and the company expects that amount to develop sharply as machine costs fall and 4G safety expands.
Airtel’s guess on connectivity extends previous terrestrial networks. In May 2025, the company launched a strategic settlement with SpaceX to mix Starlink’s satellite tv for pc television for computer net suppliers into its enterprise and retail selections.
The collaboration targets to ship high-speed broadband to distant schools, hospitals, and communities, areas the place laying fibre or establishing towers is dear or impractical. Starlink has already secured licences in 9 of Airtel’s 14 markets, with approvals inside the remaining nations in course of.
Group partnerships and regional method
Previous SpaceX, Airtel has struck various network-sharing agreements to spice up effectivity and reduce rollout costs. In August 2025, it signed a strategic infrastructure-sharing maintain Vodacom Group defending Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mozambique. This follows comparable preparations with MTN in Uganda and Nigeria launched earlier inside the yr.
These partnerships are designed to hurry up fibre deployment, optimise tower utilization, and delay broadband entry, significantly in underserved markets the place infrastructure duplication stays costly.
No matter sturdy momentum, execution menace stays. Some areas, equal to East Africa, have seen short-term slowdowns in capex on account of supply-chain and macroeconomic pressures. International cash devaluations, inflation, and vitality costs moreover threaten to erode good factors if not fastidiously managed.
Nonetheless, Airtel’s administration is assured. “We’re establishing the muse for a really digital Africa — from mobile connectivity to fintech inclusion,” Taldar talked about. “Our partnership with SpaceX, combined with file ranges of funding, positions Airtel Africa for long-term growth.”
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