Airtel Africa net earnings jump to $1,257Million for quarter ended June 30

By Monica Muema

Airtel Africa – the African division of Indian telecoms group Bharti Airtel – has reported underlying revenue of $1,257m for the quarter ended 30 June 2022, an increase of 13 percent year-on-year.

The firm’s total revenues, for mobile services and mobile money services combined, grew in Nigeria by 18.3 percent, in East Africa by 14.1 percent and in Francophone Africa by 11.7 percent.

Revenue growth in constant currency was posted across all four reporting segments. Mobile Services revenue in Nigeria grew by 18.3 percent, in East Africa by 11.1 percent and in Francophone Africa by 10.6 percent (and across the Group by 14.2 percent.

Voice revenue up by 11.3 percent and data revenue up by 19.8 percent). Mobile Money revenue grew by 26.5 percent, driven by growth of 26.9 percent in East Africa and 25.4 percent in Francophone Africa.

“I am pleased to report that the Group has continued to post double-digit revenue growth, margin improvement and strong earnings growth.

I am also particularly pleased with our ongoing strengthening of the balance sheet which continued after the period ended, with early repayment of $450m of debt at Group level.

As we flagged in our full year announcement, this quarter we have faced headwinds from outbound voice call barring for customers who had not yet registered their National Identification Numbers in Nigeria and the loss of site sharing revenue in those OpCos where we recently sold towers.

Inflation is also having an impact on our cost base, particularly on energy costs, but our continued efficiency drives have ensured that we have still been able to increase our margins, albeit at a slightly slower rate,” noted Segun Ogunsanya, chief executive officer, on the trading update.