Airtel Africa which operates in 14 countries has reported 19.7% growth in constant currency revenue, with reported currency revenues up by 2.3% to US$2.6 billion (about K3 trillion).
The provider of telecommunications and mobile money services has announced this in its results for the half year which ended 30 September 2023.
The results also show that the company’s customer base grew by 9.7% to 147.7 million, as the penetration of mobile data and mobile money services continued to rise, driving a 23.0% increase in data customers to 59.8 million and a 23.1% increase in mobile money customers to 36.5 million.
“Across the group mobile services revenue grew by 18.3% in constant currency, driven by voice revenue growth of 11.5% and data revenue growth of 28.1% Mobile money revenue grew by 30.9% in constant currency,” reads part of the report.
However, the group has reported a loss after tax of US$13 million (about K15 billion) which has been largely driven by $654 million (K750 billion) of foreign exchange and derivative losses as a result of the revaluation of foreign currency liabilities in the operating companies.
According to Airtel, the devaluation of the Nigerian naira in June 2023 resulted in a foreign exchange loss of $317 million (K363 billion) after tax. The impact of the Nigerian naira devaluation has been classified as an exceptional item.
“Excluding the impact of these exceptional items, profit after tax would be $304 million (about K348 billion), compared to $288 million (about K330 billion) in the prior period,” reads the report.
Commenting on the trading report, Olusegun Ogunsanya, Group chief executive officer, says it is a strong operating performance for the Group despite foreign exchange headwinds in many of the markets and specifically in Nigeria.
“The resilient growth in voice, data and mobile money usage levels reflects the inherent demand for these essential services across our footprint, and our six-pillar ‘win-with’ strategy continues to ensure we capture this growth opportunity by expanding our customer base and providing the platform to enable increased usage across the network,” says Ogunsanya.
