I extend my gratitude to our customers for their confidence, our people for their commitment and our various stakeholders for their support throughout the year 2025.
We have continued to grow the business supported by our values of being Alive, inclusive and respectful.
We have reported a 13.3% growth in Revenue and 24.5% growth in EBITDA with a 54.9% EBITDA margin. This was supported by our commitment to continuous improvement of our network and service to our valued customers – the reason we exist.
Our performance was also supported by Uganda’s strong macroeconomic indicators for 2025 which show moderate growth, easing inflation supported by stable food prices. GDP growth is around 4.8%, inflation has declined to about 3–4%, while government debt and trade imbalances remain.
These macroeconomic signals give confidence to our long-term strategy as a valuable player in the country’s digital agenda that we are proud to be part of.
From Coverage to Usage – The growing power of Airtel Broadband
The recently released GSMA Digital Economy Report is very instructive on Uganda’s digital journey over the years. Today, our nation stands at 96% 4G population coverage, outperforming both East Africa at 78% and Africa at 81%. The report also presents a new challenge to tackle. The Usage Gap. Uganda’s Usage Gap is 75%, East Africa at 79% and Africa at 72%. Airtel Uganda has been instrumental in shaping this country’s broadband coverage and usage performance and I would like to thank every stakeholder for their support.
This year we have added 290 4G sites, expanding the stock of our 5G sites to 365 in major cities and towns like Kampala Wakiso, Jinja, Mbale, Mityana, Masaka, Lira, Fort Portal, Gulu and Mbarara.
We will drive higher data consumption across our markets by delivering brilliant network experience for those connected, promoting wider smartphone adoption and expanding access to home broadband. These efforts will strengthen the experience of our current customers while welcoming new individuals and businesses into the digital ecosystem. Data usage has already shown remarkable growth, with user numbers rising by 19.6% and average consumption per subscriber increasing by 14.8%. We remain committed to investing in our network to foster innovation and empower customers to fully leverage the potential of data.
Network Quality and Service.
Our customers experience our product, the network, differently for various reasons. It is our commitment to deliver consistently high-quality experience for all our customers. In 2025, we rolled out 258 new 4G sites especially in rural and peri-urban areas across the country. This has greatly improved our availability, data throughputs and our customers’ experience.
We have committed our best technical, human and financial resources to deliver the best experience whenever customers contact us. Whether that contact is on the network, in the shops, online and our various self-help options like the MyAirtelApp and USSD.
Protecting our customer – Spam Alert Service
As access and usage grow, so do the cyber risks. In April 2025, we pioneered Africa’s first Spam fighting service. Our Spam Alert service uses artificial and network intelligence to alert our customers whenever spam messages drop in their SMS. This will raise awareness and build the much-needed trust in the ecosystem. Tests for dealing with spam calls are in advanced stages. It is our way of dealing with the global problem of spam and protecting the public because scam follows spam.
We refined our Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service and engaged more device partners to deliver device updates so that more customers in Uganda can utilize the service. VoLTE allows customers to make High definition calls on the data network making their voice experience better without the need to pause their browsing sessions. We are proud to report that VoLTE service contributes more than 20% of total smartphone voice traffic.
Building Capacity for Businesses through 5G Roll out
We expanded the stock of our 5G sites by 315 new sites to 365 sites in the major cities of Mbale, Jinja, Masaka, Mityana, Gulu, Mbarara, Fort Portal and Lira. We are alive to the growing need for faster internet connectivity that supports the productive capacity of the transformative sectors in education, health, manufacturing, agro processing, Tourism and the Arts.
Supporting Enterprises – Expanding Network as a Service (NaaS)
We have continued to expand our network supporting Uganda’s Enterprises to scale their operations while Airtel Business takes care of Network as a Service (NaaS). Our services include Connectivity and Network security firewalls that give the customers flexibility, ease of use and management of their Enterprise networks without the need for elaborate ICT departments. Ugandan enterprises can now concentrate on their core businesses and Airtel Business takes care of their end-to-end ICT needs.
We are proud providers of the Network as a Service to SUMMA Contractors during the contraction of the iconic Hoima City Stadium in 2025.
Growing Talent, Inspiring Performance and Celebrating Impact
Airtel Uganda held eight large employee engagement events, ranging from skills showcases to cultural and social initiatives. For the first time, there is a Business Market place and Sports day where teams compete in various aspects of the business and games. The aim was not spectacle but belonging and improving employee engagement and productivity.
To reinforce this culture, Airtel introduced the MD Platinum Club, celebrating top-performing individuals and teams throughout the year rather than waiting for annual reviews.
In order to break silos, we moved away from a conventional department-led operating model to cross-functional project teams, organised around clearly defined outcomes rather than hierarchies. These teams bring together staff from network, commercial, finance, technology, and customer operations to work jointly on priority areas such as network experience, new site delivery, ARPU growth, cost discipline, and customer satisfaction.
These initiatives have delivered very good outcomes for the business.
Winning in the community and with stakeholders
We strengthened our social licence to operate recognizing that in telecom, long-term success depends as much on trust and legitimacy as it does on network reach and availability.
Over the past year, Airtel Uganda, through the Airtel Africa Foundation by alignment with national priorities around inclusion, youth, and digital opportunity. This has been most evident in Airtel’s continued focus on education and youth development, where connectivity is positioned as a tool for empowerment.
In March, Airtel Uganda partnered with UNICEF Uganda to mark the International Day of Digital Learning, reaffirming a commitment to safe and inclusive internet access for learners. By December 2025, Airtel Uganda had connected 223 public schools across the country, extending access to digital learning resources and reinforcing the role of connectivity in human capital development.
Cultural and community institutions have also remained central to our transforming lives agenda. Through sustained support for platforms such as the Kabaka Birthday Run and the Masaza Cup, we reinforced our relationship with the Buganda Kingdom and its youth constituencies, supporting public health, unity, and talent development initiatives.
I invite you to read more about the impact of our Investment in Transforming Lives on the sustainability section of this report.
In 2025, we participated in various stakeholder engagements, contributed to policy development in various spaces that are geared towards an affirmative tax policy on smartphones and other terminal devices. We continued our partnerships with Device financing partners to accelerate the uptake and usage of Smartphones in Uganda.
Our overall objective is to accelerate the closure of the Usage gap identified by partners like GMSA, support the country’s digital agenda, develop our people and deliver a handsome return to our shareholders.
Looking ahead
Our focus remains the delivery of outstanding services and products, always aiming for best-in-class through a unique distribution network that is close to our customers. Through this network we create value for our shareholders and the society that we are proud to be part of.
We will strengthen partnerships with satellite technology firms as we deliver our geographical coverage commitments for meaningful digital and financial inclusion for all.
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