Airtel Africa, the telco that operates in 14 African countries, in its latest report, has revealed that Nigeria is now its second-biggest market by revenue earned per subscriber.
Airtel grew its average revenue per user (ARPU) in Nigeria by 41.18%, nearly seven times faster than Francophone Africa (6.25%) and almost nine times faster than East Africa (4.76%), making Nigeria the standout growth market across all of Airtel Africa’s regions.
The ARPU measures how much money a telecom operator earns from each subscriber over a period of time. If millions of people are buying data, making calls, and subscribing to services, ARPU indicates whether the company is generating enough revenue from those users to cover costs.
The mobile money problem: While Nigeria is becoming stronger in telecom revenue, it remains weak in mobile money. In Kenya, Airtel Money has slowly been chipping away at M-PESA’s dominance. Nigeria, however, tells a very different story. The country contributed less than 1% of the $1.36 billion generated by Airtel Africa’s mobile money business, with 2.7 million mobile money users, compared to 40.9 million in East Africa and 10.5 million in Francophone Africa.
Part of the problem could be structural. Nigeria’s financial ecosystem already has banks, fintechs, and payment startups aggressively competing for users, unlike East Africa, where telecom-led mobile money has long become dominant, given M-PESA’s success.
The postponed IPO: Airtel had previously planned to list its mobile money arm in London, hoping to unlock value from its fintech arm. However, the public listing was postponed to H2 2026 after market uncertainty triggered by the Middle East conflict.
Zoom out: Airtel’s ARPU run in Nigeria matters because things looked rough recently. In 2025, Nigeria lost over one million Internet users within six months as economic pressure and regulatory bottlenecks affected subscriber activity. Now, a stronger ARPU suggests the industry is stabilising again.