Onatel Grows Revenue But Costs Keep Profits Under Pressure

BREAKING NEWSMay 1, 2026 at 12:49 PM UTC

TLDR

ONATEL, the Burkina Faso telecom operator, saw revenue grow by 2.7% to 37.1 billion FCFA driven by data services, with a net profit decline of 4.5% due to operational costs outpacing revenue growth.
The company continues to focus on network expansion, fibre rollout, and modernization to sustain growth amidst operational challenges in Burkina Faso.
Despite facing military rule and a jihadist insurgency, ONATEL is investing in high-value digital services like fibre broadband and mobile money to drive future revenue growth and improve margins.

ONATEL (BRVM: ONTBF), the Burkina Faso telecom operator that trades as Moov Africa and is 61% owned by Morocco's Maroc Telecom, grew its customer base and revenue in the first quarter of 2026 but could not prevent profit from falling as operational costs continued to compress margins.

Revenue rose 2.7% to 37.1 billion FCFA ($66.3 million) under local accounting standards, driven by data services, which the company identified as the primary growth engine. The mobile customer base reached 12.65 million, up 3.3% year-on-year, with fibre broadband subscribers growing 38.4% and mobile money users up 17.1%.

Net profit fell 4.5% to 3.6 billion FCFA ($6.4 million). The operating result dropped 6.1%, with the company attributing the decline to the level of operational costs, which continue to outpace revenue growth and squeeze what reaches the bottom line. Under IFRS, the EBITDA margin held at 41.3% — a reasonable level for a regional telecom — but the gap between EBITDA and net profit reflects heavy depreciation from ongoing network investment.

Internet user numbers fell 21.8% under the old counting methodology, though the company noted this reflects a change in how internet subscribers are classified in 2026 rather than a real drop in usage.

The company said it remains committed to network expansion, fibre rollout, and modernisation as its path to sustaining growth through the rest of the year.

Key Takeaways

ONATEL operates in one of the most operationally challenging environments in West Africa. Burkina Faso has been under military rule since 2022, and a jihadist insurgency now disrupts activity across more than 30% of national territory, forcing the company to spend on site security, network maintenance in conflict zones, and infrastructure rehabilitation after vandalism. Full-year 2025 net profit fell 26% despite revenue growing 3%, and that multi-year squeeze on margins is the context in which Q1 2026's modest profit decline should be read. The data growth — fibre broadband up 38%, mobile money up 17% — points to where ONATEL is investing and where future revenue will come from: higher-value digital services that carry better margins than voice. The military government has also required large telecom operators to build permanent headquarters in Ouagadougou, an additional capital burden ONATEL is managing alongside its core network investment. For BRVM investors, ONATEL offers a combination of a structural digital growth story and a country-risk premium that keeps the valuation depressed relative to peers in more stable markets. The Q1 result is modest but consistent: the top line is growing slowly, the bottom line is being squeezed by costs, and the investment cycle in fibre and mobile money should eventually shift that dynamic — if the security situation stabilises.

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