Data, mobile money usage drive Airtel Africa’s revenue in H1 2023
Data services and mobile money services have contributed significantly to the revenue of Airtel Africa.
This is according to the half year result of Airtel Africa Plc for the period ended 30 September, 2023.
Voice revenue grew by 16.1 percent in constant currency, driven by both customer base growth of 5.0 percent and ARPU growth of 10.0 percent while Data revenue grew by 29.3 percent in constant currency, driven by data customer base growth of 17.4 percent and data ARPU growth of 12.3 percent.
Data usage per customer also increased by 23.8 percent to 5.9 GB per month (from 4.8 GB in the prior period).
Furthermore, 233 5G sites are now operational. For the Q2’24 period, 4G customers accounted for 51.1 percent of the total data customer base and contributed to 85.3 percent of total data usage.
The comapny revealed that Q2’24 4G data usage per customer reached 11.7 GB per month, an increase of 41.3 percent (from 8.3 GB per customer per month in Q2’23).
Group Chief Executive Officer, Olusegun Ogunsanya, on the trading update said, “I am pleased to report a strong operating performance for the Group despite foreign exchange headwinds in many of our 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.
“This strong momentum is supported by continued cost efficiencies which enabled further EBITDA margin expansion.
“As reported in July 2023, our results for the first quarter were significantly impacted by the changes to the FX market in Nigeria, introduced by the Central Bank.
Whilst the changes are required for the long-term benefit of the Nigerian economy, the immediate impact of the naira devaluation continues to weigh on our reported financial performance in the period. Our focus remains to enhance long term value by continuing to drive sustained and efficient growth.
“Over the last five years we have delivered constant currency revenue and EBITDA CAGR of 17.1 percent and 20.7 percent respectively, allowing us to further derisk the balance sheet and improve profitability across the Group. Looking forward, the delivery of affordable and reliable telecom and mobile money services across our markets remains our key focus.
“Our strong operating performance continues to make us a stronger and bigger company, which is well positioned to deliver against the growth opportunities these markets offer. Despite the challenges of rising diesel prices in Nigeria, we aim to limit the impact with continued operational leverage and further cost efficiencies to deliver an improved EBITDA margin in FY’24 versus FY’23,” he said.
