Amsterdam, Netherlands – July 26, 2026 – VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), a leading global provider of connectivity and digital services, today announced a stellar second quarter for 2026, showcasing a significant upward trajectory in its financial performance. The company’s robust growth, with total revenue climbing 17 percent year-over-year to $1.271 billion, underscores its successful strategy of blending traditional telecommunications strength with aggressive expansion in digital services and continued investment in its network infrastructure. This impressive Q2 showing has prompted VEON to raise its full-year financial outlook, signaling strong confidence in its ongoing momentum.
Q2 2026: A Quarter of Remarkable Growth and Strategic Advancement
VEON’s Q2 2026 results paint a picture of a dynamic and evolving telecom giant. The reported total revenue of $1.271 billion represents a substantial increase from the $1.087 billion generated in the same period last year. This robust performance extends to the first half of the year, with revenue escalating by 17 percent to $2.472 billion, up from $2.113 billion in the first half of 2025.
These strong financial indicators have directly translated into an upward revision of VEON’s full-year 2026 guidance. The company now anticipates revenue growth in the range of 15-18 percent, a notable increase from its previous forecast of 11-14 percent. Furthermore, VEON has also raised its Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) growth guidance to 9-12 percent, up from the earlier projection of 7-10 percent. Capital expenditure (Capex) intensity, excluding its operations in Ukraine, is expected to remain within the 15-17 percent range, indicating a continued commitment to strategic investments without compromising fiscal prudence.
The impressive performance is a testament to VEON’s multi-faceted growth strategy, which hinges on three key pillars: enhancing Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) in its core telecom business, driving rapid expansion of its digital service offerings, and persistently investing in the modernization and expansion of its network infrastructure.
Telecom Backbone Strengthened: ARPU Rises, 4G Penetration Deepens
The telecommunications and infrastructure segment, VEON’s foundational business, continues to demonstrate resilience and growth. In Q2 2026, this segment generated $929 million in revenue, marking a healthy 7.6 percent increase from the $865 million reported in the prior year. For the first half of the year, telecom and infrastructure revenue rose by the same margin, reaching $1.828 billion compared to $1.699 billion in the first half of 2025.
A significant driver of this growth has been the rise in mobile ARPU, which climbed 6.3 percent to $1.80 from $1.70. This improvement is attributed to strategic pricing adjustments and a notable increase in customer engagement. VEON’s overall ARPU saw an even more substantial surge of 16.6 percent, reaching $2.50 from $2.10. This broader increase is a reflection of the company’s success in cross-selling and upselling a range of services.
Digging deeper into the ARPU figures, Multiplay ARPU, which represents customers subscribing to bundled services, saw a significant 14.4 percent increase to $3.90 from $3.40. This highlights the increasing value proposition of VEON’s integrated offerings, where customers are combining connectivity with a growing suite of digital services. Voice ARPU also saw a modest increase of 6.1 percent to $0.96, while fixed ARPU experienced a robust 12.3 percent jump to $6.30 from $5.60, indicating strong monetization of its broadband services.
The company’s strategic focus on Multiplay customers is particularly evident, as these customers now generate four times the ARPU of voice-only users. This trend underscores VEON’s successful strategy of migrating customers towards more comprehensive and lucrative service packages.
VEON’s mobile subscriber base stood at 151.5 million at the end of Q2 2026. While this represents a slight decrease of 0.5 percent from 152.3 million a year prior, it shows a positive sequential growth from 150.5 million in Q1 2026. More importantly, the company continues to witness a strong shift towards higher-value 4G services. The number of 4G users grew by 3.7 percent to 106.9 million from 103.1 million, consequently increasing the 4G penetration rate by 2.9 percentage points to 70.6 percent from 67.7 percent.
The Multiplay customer base also expanded, growing 4.5 percent to 45.3 million from 43.3 million, now accounting for 34.3 percent of VEON’s one-month mobile subscriber base. Furthermore, VEON’s fixed customer base experienced a significant expansion of 10.1 percent, reaching 2.06 million from 1.87 million, signaling a successful push into the broadband market. Notably, VEON did not disclose a consolidated Group churn rate in its Q2 2026 key telecommunications metrics.
Digital Services Explode: A New Growth Engine for VEON
While the telecom business forms the bedrock, VEON’s digital services segment has emerged as its fastest-growing engine, delivering exceptional results in Q2 2026. Digital revenue experienced a dramatic surge of 53.6 percent year-over-year, reaching $342 million from $222 million. This significant growth propelled digital services to represent 26.9 percent of VEON’s total Group revenue, a substantial increase from 20.5 percent in Q2 2025.
The momentum in digital services is equally strong for the first half of the year. Digital revenue surged by an impressive 55.5 percent to $644 million, up from $414 million in the corresponding period last year. Its contribution to the Group’s revenue also climbed, accounting for 26.1 percent in the first half of 2026 compared to 19.6 percent in the first half of 2025.
The profitability of VEON’s digital ventures is also on the rise. Digital EBITDA climbed by an impressive 66.2 percent to $124 million in Q2, with the digital EBITDA margin expanding to 36.1 percent from 33.4 percent. For the first half, digital EBITDA saw a robust increase of 63.6 percent, reaching $228 million.
Breaking down the digital revenue, Financial Services emerged as a key contributor, generating $151 million in Q2 digital revenue, a significant 48.5 percent increase. Digital Life, encompassing a range of consumer-facing digital products, saw its revenue skyrocket by 90.5 percent to $119 million. Digital Enterprise, catering to business and government clients, also demonstrated strong growth, with revenue increasing by 25.5 percent to $72 million.
Within the vibrant Digital Life segment, specific sub-categories are exhibiting extraordinary growth. Entertainment revenue jumped by a remarkable 95.6 percent to $45 million. Ride-hailing services saw a healthy increase of 50.8 percent to $33 million. Healthcare, a nascent but rapidly expanding area, surged by an astonishing 476.9 percent to $10 million. Premium digital brand revenue also showed impressive gains, increasing by 90 percent to $28 million.
Geographically, Pakistan stands out as VEON’s largest digital market, contributing $193 million in Q2 digital revenue, a substantial 45.6 percent increase. Ukraine’s digital revenue surged by 83 percent to $74 million, reflecting the resilience and innovation of its operations. Kazakhstan also posted strong growth with a 36.8 percent increase to $45 million. Bangladesh demonstrated explosive growth, jumping by 253.7 percent to $17 million, and Uzbekistan rose by 28.8 percent to $13 million.
VEON’s active digital customer base reached 227.7 million during Q2 2026, a notable increase from 226.3 million in Q1 2026 and 204.5 million in Q4 2025. This expansive digital ecosystem includes 58.8 million Financial Services customers, 93.2 million entertainment users, 5.2 million ride-hailing users, 16.2 million healthcare users, and 7.8 million premium digital brand users. An additional 74.2 million users engage with SuperApps, marketplaces, education, and other digital services.
Crucially, VEON is also cultivating a growing base of digital-only customers, reaching 76 million in Q2 2026, up from 72.8 million in Q1. These are individuals actively using VEON’s digital platforms without being subscribers to its mobile networks, effectively expanding the company’s addressable market beyond its traditional connectivity customer base and signaling a successful diversification into non-telecom digital services.
Artificial Intelligence Integration: Enhancing Customer Experience and Operations
VEON is strategically embedding artificial intelligence (AI) across its operations, with its AI1440 program and AI First initiative driving significant advancements. During Q2 2026, VEON launched 77 AI initiatives across five key markets, impacting networks, customer care, digital services, fintech, healthcare, and enterprise operations.
The tangible impact of this AI integration is evident, with AI-powered products now deployed across more than 30 million customer touchpoints. VEON is actively leveraging AI to enhance customer engagement, automate processes, boost productivity, and achieve operating savings.
The company is also actively exploring and developing enterprise AI opportunities. The Digital Enterprise segment, which generated $72 million in Q2 revenue, offers AI, cloud, and data solutions to corporate and government customers, signaling a growing demand for advanced digital solutions in the business sector.
Strategic Capex Allocation: Balancing Network Modernization and Digital Investment
VEON’s capital expenditure in Q2 2026 amounted to $198 million, a decrease of 14.3 percent from $231 million in the same quarter last year. For the first half of 2026, capex reached $336 million, down 8.1 percent from $366 million in the first half of 2025. This reduction in overall capex reflects a strategic reallocation of resources, with a significant increase in digital investment.
Telecommunications and infrastructure accounted for $173 million of the Q2 capex, a decrease of 20.5 percent from $218 million a year ago. In contrast, digital capex saw a substantial surge of 90.2 percent, reaching $25 million from $13 million. For the first half, telecom and infrastructure capex was $296 million, down 14 percent, while digital capex more than doubled to $40 million from $21 million.
VEON’s last-12-month capex intensity declined to 18.9 percent from 21.4 percent. Excluding Ukraine, capex intensity stood at a more efficient 15 percent. Telecommunications and infrastructure capex intensity was 22.8 percent, a decrease from 24.9 percent a year earlier, while digital capex intensity increased to 7.1 percent from 6.1 percent.
The company reiterated its guidance for 2026 capex intensity excluding Ukraine to remain between 15 percent and 17 percent. A significant area of investment highlighted is Pakistan, following recent spectrum acquisitions, which are aimed at bolstering data monetization capabilities and paving the way for future growth.
Network Evolution and Future Outlook: Expanding Connectivity and Digital Integration
VEON’s commitment to expanding its fixed customer base is yielding positive results, with a 10.1 percent year-over-year increase to 2.06 million. The associated fixed ARPU also rose by 12.3 percent to $6.30, demonstrating stronger monetization of its broadband operations.
The company continues its strategic investments in network capacity, spectrum-related assets, digital platforms, and IT infrastructure. This sustained investment is reflected in the 14.9 percent year-over-year increase in depreciation and amortization in Q2.
Furthermore, VEON is actively exploring innovative ways to extend connectivity, including through satellite technology. Its collaboration with Starlink is progressing in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Bangladesh. In Ukraine, Kyivstar’s satellite-enabled service has garnered over 6 million users, evolving beyond basic messaging to offer access to satellite-ready applications even when terrestrial signals are unavailable. This initiative is particularly crucial in ensuring connectivity resilience in challenging environments.
Conclusion: A Diversified Growth Trajectory
VEON’s Q2 2026 performance paints a compelling picture of a company successfully navigating a dynamic market by embracing diversification and innovation. The robust growth in both its traditional telecom segment, evidenced by rising ARPU and expanding 4G penetration, and its rapidly accelerating digital services arm, demonstrates a well-executed strategy. The significant surge in digital revenue, now accounting for nearly a third of total revenue, coupled with the strategic integration of AI across millions of customer touchpoints, positions VEON for sustained future growth. As the company continues to invest in its network infrastructure and explore new frontiers in digital services, its ability to combine core connectivity with value-added digital offerings and AI-driven solutions underscores its evolution into a comprehensive digital services provider. The raised financial outlook for the full year further solidifies confidence in VEON’s strategic direction and its capacity to deliver enhanced value to its customers and shareholders.
