Airtel Africa increases revenue by 21.7% to $3.49m

AFRICA Plc has posted a revenue growth of $3.49 million for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2021 indicating 21.7 per cent revenue growth to $3.492 million from $2.850 million achieved in the same period of 2020.

In its unaudited financial statements for nine months ended December 31, 2021, the leading telco said it recorded 1.9 million net additions in the third quarter, taking total group customer additions to 3.1 million.

A look into the financial statement submitted to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) revealed that the voice accounted for $1.747 million compared with $1.537 million in the first nine months of the preceding accounting year, while data contributed $1.127 million as against $842 million of the earlier period, with mobile money accounting for $406 million versus $291 million and other revenue contributing $306 million as against $255 million in 2020.

Segun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive Officer, of the telecommunication company noted that a strong third quarter has contributed to a pleasing nine-month financial performance across all key metrics.

“Operationally we have continued to execute on our network and distribution expansion plans, driving continued strong growth in ARPUs across voice, data and mobile money. We have also seen further improvement in our customer growth trends for the Group with Nigeria returning to strong customer growth after a period affected by the implementation of new ‘know your customer’ requirements, posting 1.9 million net additions in the third quarter, taking total Group customer additions to 3.1 million.

Ogunsanya noted that the company, having received approval in principle for both a payment service bank (mobile money) licence and a super-agent licence, is now working closely with the Central Bank to meet all its conditions to receive the final operating licences and commence operations.

“This will enable us to expand our digital financial products and reach the millions of Nigerians that do not have access to traditional financial services.

Speaking on the finances, Ogunsanya said the company continued to strengthen its balance sheet, with the leverage ratio now 1.4 times underlying EBITDA, “thanks both to continued increases in operating cash flow delivery and to over $550m of cash that has now been received from minority investments into our mobile money business.”

Looking ahead, he said Airtel Africa will continue to invest in expanding and evolving its platform to further deepen both financial and digital inclusion across Africa.

I continue to see huge growth potential across voice, data and mobile money and our strategy is delivering against this opportunity. Our sustained investments in both network and distribution expansion will help to ensure that both the communities and economies across our footprint will continue to benefit from increased and affordable connectivity and financial inclusion. We are committed to continue to improve the delivery of our services to our customers, with sustainability at the heart of our continued purpose to transform lives acrossAfrica.”