Airtel Africa has made a major bounceback to the blue in its newly released nine-month reports for 2024 after a difficult 2023 of mounting losses. The telecoms firm, which operates in 14 African countries, reported $248 million in profit after tax, compared to a meagre $2 million in nine months of 2023.
While the news is delightful for telecom experts, rising diesel costs and currency devaluations impacted the top line.
The company’s revenue declined 5.8% ($3.63 billion) due to devaluations in the Nigerian naira, the Malawian kwacha, and the Zambian kwacha, partially offset by an appreciation in the Kenya shilling. The telco’s focus will turn to customer experience as it attempts to bolster network investments. Customer experience remains critical to telco via continued investment in the data experience. Data capacity across the network increased by 20.8% with the rollout of over 2,850 sites and around 2,600 km of fibre, the financials said.
Key takeaways:
- Airtel Africa reported revenue of $3.63 billion year-on-year, down 5.8%
- It gained $248 million in profits year-on-year, up more than 4x 2023 numbers
- Mobile money customers grew 18.3% in 9M 2024 to 44.3 million
Its strong bottom line (which grew more than 4x) was driven by data and mobile money services revenue, which increased overall Average Revenue per User (ARPU) by 12%. Data customers grew 13.8% to 71.4 million, while mobile money users in the telco’s East and Francophone Africa segments increased to 44.3 million.
Voice revenue regained control, rising to $1.45 billion and towering data revenues of $1.30 billion. Mobile money revenue grew to $731 million, with a continued strong performance in East Africa of 32.1% and Francophone Africa of 21.1%. Similarly, mobile money contributed 29.6% to revenue, slightly above data revenue’s contribution of 29.5%—the second highest in percentage points. Strong optimism in the telco’s Airtel money product set to go public in 2025 could be driving these numbers.
Airtel’s customer base grew to 163.1 million as the company continued to reduce its foreign currency debt exposure, as it has shifted to 92% local debt to reduce pressure on its earnings. This nine months, the company claimed to have paid down $739m of foreign currency debt over the past year opening the door to bumper profits it’s currently declaring.
Despite the positive results, Airtel Africa’s share price is down 1.9% in pre-market trading. However, investors are likely to be encouraged by the company’s strong financial performance and its attractive share price especially after the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) approved a 50% tariff increase.
“Despite the challenging environment for many of our customers, we continue to see strong demand for our services as we enable connectivity and facilitate access to the digital economy,” said CEO Sunil Taldar, who succeeded Olusegun Ogunsanya in June 2024.
“The recent signs of currency stabilisation in some markets and the recent decision from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) regarding tariff adjustments in Nigeria are encouraging and signal a more stable and supportive operating environment. While challenges remain, these developments provide a firm foundation for growth and improved market conditions.”
Airtel Nigeria, the company’s Nigerian subsidiary, successfully navigated an NCC directive requiring customer SIM registration verification, with negligible impact on revenue. The Nigerian subsidiary anticipates that the tariff increase will support further network infrastructure investment and improved service delivery.
