For the year ended | ||
|---|---|---|
31 March 2026 $m | 31 March 2025 $m | |
Service revenue | 6,400 | 4,932 |
Sale of products | 15 | 23 |
6,415 | 4,955 | |
Transaction price allocated to the remaining performance obligations
Performance obligations that are unsatisfied (or partially unsatisfied) amounting to $173m as of 31 March 2026 (31 March 2025: $135m) will be satisfied within a period of the next year, and $43m as of 31 March 2026 (31 March 2025: $0m) will be satisfied within a period of next 5 – 15 years.
Revenue recognised that was included in the deferred revenue balance at the beginning of the year:
For the year ended | ||
|---|---|---|
31 March 2026 $m | 31 March 2025 $m | |
Revenue recognised that was included in the deferred revenue balance at the beginning of the year | 135 | 123 |
Significant changes in the unbilled revenue and deferred revenue balances during the year are as follows:
For the year ended | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
31 March 2026 | 31 March 2025 | ||||
Unbilled Revenue $m | Deferred Revenue $m | Unbilled Revenue $m | Deferred Revenue $m | ||
Revenue recognised that was included in the deferred revenue balance at the beginning of the year | – | 135 | – | 123 | |
Increases due to cash received, excluding amounts recognised as revenue during the year | – | 216 | – | 135 | |
Transfers from Unbilled Revenue recognised at the beginning of the year to receivables | 32 | – | 35 | – | |
Reconciliation of costs to obtain or fulfil a contract with a customer
For the year ended | ||
|---|---|---|
31 March 2026 $m | 31 March 2025 $m | |
Costs to obtain or fulfil a contract with a customer | ||
Opening balance | 156 | 135 |
Impact due to hyperinflationary accounting | 0 | 0 |
Costs incurred and deferred | 193 | 175 |
Less: Cost amortised | (182) | (153) |
Less: Foreign currency translation impact | 8 | (1) |
Closing balance | 175 | 156 |
6.1 Segmental information
The Group’s segment information is provided on the basis of geographical clusters and products to the Group’s Chief Executive Officer (chief operating decision maker – ‘CODM’) for the purposes of resource allocation and assessment of performance.
The Group’s operating segments are as follows:
Nigeria mobile services – Comprising of mobile service operations in Nigeria;
East Africa mobile services – Comprising of mobile service operations in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Rwanda;
Francophone Africa mobile services – Comprising of mobile service operations in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Niger, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Seychelles;
Mobile money* – Comprising of mobile money services across the Group.
*Mobile money services segment consolidates the results of mobile money operations from all operating entities within the Group. Airtel Money Commerce B.V. (AMC BV) is the holding company for all mobile money services for the Group, and as of 31 March 2026 it controls all mobile money operations excluding operations in Nigeria.
Each segment derives revenue from the respective services housed within each segment, as described above. Expenses, assets and liabilities primarily related to the corporate headquarters and centralised functions of the Group are presented as unallocated items.
The amounts reported to CODM are based on the accounting principles used in the preparation of the financial statements. Each segment’s performance is evaluated based on segment revenue and segment result.
The segment result is Underlying EBITDA (defined as operating profit/(loss) for the year before depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items relating to operating profit, if any). This is the measure reported to the CODM for the purpose of resource allocation and assessment of segment performance. During the year ended 31 March 2026, the definition of EBITDA was equal to Underlying EBITDA since there were no exceptional items pertaining to EBITDA and therefore EBITDA is presented in the segmental information below. During the year ended 31 March 2025, the segment result is Underlying EBITDA as there was an exceptional item pertaining to EBITDA.
Inter-segment pricing and terms are reviewed and changed by management to reflect changes in market conditions and changes to such terms are reflected in the period in which the changes occur.
The ‘Eliminations’ column comprises inter-segment transactions eliminated upon consolidation.
Segment assets and segment liabilities comprise those assets and liabilities directly managed by each segment. Segment assets primarily include receivables, property, plant and equipment, capital work in progress, right-to-use assets, intangibles assets, inventories and cash and cash equivalents. Segment liabilities primarily include operating liabilities. Segment capital expenditure comprises investment in property, plant and equipment, capital work in progress, intangible assets (excluding licences) and capital advances.
Investment elimination upon consolidation and resulting goodwill impacts are reflected in the ‘Eliminations’ column.
Summary of the segmental information and disaggregation of revenue is as follows:
For the year ended 31 March 2026 | Nigeria mobile services $m | East Africa mobile services $m | Francophone Africa services $m | Mobile money $m | Others (unallocated) $m | Eliminations $m | Total $m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Mobile money revenue is net of inter-segment elimination of $268m mainly for commission on sale of airtime. It includes $170m pertaining to East Africa mobile services, $95m pertaining to Francophone Africa mobile services and a balance of $3m pertaining to Nigeria mobile service. 2 Other revenue includes messaging, value added services, enterprise, site sharing and handset sale revenue. | |||||||
Revenue from external customers | |||||||
Voice revenue | 613 | 1,067 | 638 | – | – | – | 2,318 |
Data revenue | 820 | 930 | 780 | – | – | – | 2,530 |
Mobile money revenue1 | – | – | – | 1,087 | – | – | 1,087 |
Other revenue2 | 162 | 175 | 122 | – | 21 | – | 480 |
| |||||||
Total revenue from external customers | 1,595 | 2,172 | 1,540 | 1,087 | 21 | – | 6,415 |
Inter-segment revenue | 3 | 20 | 10 | 268 | 16 | (317) | – |
Total revenue | 1,598 | 2,192 | 1,550 | 1,355 | 37 | (317) | 6,415 |
EBITDA | 924 | 1,063 | 618 | 689 | (132) | 0 | 3,162 |
Less: | |||||||
Depreciation and amortisation | 306 | 427 | 261 | 29 | 24 | – | 1,047 |
Finance costs | |||||||
– Derivative and net foreign exchange (gains)/losses | |||||||
Nigerian naira | (149) | ||||||
Other currencies | 22 | ||||||
– Other finance costs | 867 | ||||||
Finance income | (27) | ||||||
Net monetary gain relating to hyperinflationary accounting | (17) | ||||||
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method | (0) | ||||||
Profit before tax | 1,419 | ||||||
| |||||||
Other segment items | |||||||
Capital expenditure | 249 | 331 | 225 | 45 | 34 | – | 884 |
As of 31 March 2026 | |||||||
Segment assets | 3,062 | 3,280 | 2,152 | 2,244 | 21,443 | (18,218) | 13,963 |
Segment liabilities | 3,136 | 3,452 | 2,792 | 1,693 | 4,586 | (5,183) | 10,476 |
Investment in associate accounted for using equity method (included in segment assets above) | – | – | 6 | – | – | – | 6 |
For the year ended 31 March 2025 | Nigeria mobile services $m | East Africa mobile services $m | Francophone Africa services $m | Mobile money $m | Others (unallocated) $m | Eliminations $m | Total $m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Mobile money revenue is net of inter-segment elimination of $224m mainly for commission on sale of airtime. It includes $150m pertaining to East Africa mobile services, $73m pertaining to Francophone Africa mobile services and a balance of $1m pertaining to Nigeria mobile service. 2 Other revenue includes messaging, value added services, enterprise, site sharing and handset sale revenue. | |||||||
Revenue from external customers | |||||||
Voice revenue | 448 | 904 | 612 | – | – | – | 1,964 |
Data revenue | 483 | 755 | 566 | – | – | – | 1,804 |
Mobile money revenue1 | – | – | – | 770 | – | – | 770 |
Other revenue2 | 112 | 169 | 117 | – | 19 | – | 417 |
| |||||||
Total revenue from external customers | 1,043 | 1,828 | 1,295 | 770 | 19 | – | 4,955 |
Inter-segment revenue | 2 | 15 | 5 | 224 | 8 | (254) | – |
Total revenue | 1,045 | 1,843 | 1,300 | 994 | 27 | (254) | 4,955 |
Underlying EBITDA | 522 | 877 | 505 | 525 | (125) | – | 2,304 |
Less: | |||||||
Depreciation and amortisation | 217 | 349 | 231 | 23 | 11 | (0) | 831 |
Finance costs | |||||||
– Derivative and net foreign exchange losses | |||||||
Nigerian naira | 118 | ||||||
Other currencies | 61 | ||||||
– Other finance costs | 663 | ||||||
Finance income | (20) | ||||||
Net monetary gain relating to hyperinflationary accounting | (26) | ||||||
Share of profit of associate and joint venture accounted for using equity method | (0) | ||||||
Exceptional items pertaining to operating profit | 16 | ||||||
Profit before tax | 661 | ||||||
| |||||||
Other segment items | |||||||
Capital expenditure | 168 | 292 | 159 | 32 | 19 | – | 670 |
As of 31 March 2025 | |||||||
Segment assets | 2,592 | 2,960 | 1,994 | 1,534 | 20,551 | (17,608) | 12,023 |
Segment liabilities | 2,856 | 3,127 | 2,681 | 1,145 | 4,447 | (5,008) | 9,248 |
Investment in associate accounted for using equity method (included in segment assets above) | – | – | 5 | – | – | – | 5 |
Geographical information disclosure based on the physical location of non-current assets (PPE, CWIP, ROU, intangible assets including goodwill and intangible assets under development):
As of | ||
|---|---|---|
31 March 2026 $m | 31 March 2025 $m | |
1 Majorly includes other African countries where the Group operates. | ||
United Kingdom | 1 | 1 |
Nigeria | 2,738 | 2,260 |
Netherlands (including goodwill) | 3,184 | 2,955 |
Others1 | 4,470 | 3,919 |
Total | 10,393 | 9,135 |