East Africa fuels Airtel Africa’s growth

DAR ES SALAAM: AIRTEL’S East Africa operations have shown strong performance, reflecting a notable upward trend in revenue over the six months leading to September.

The region, according to Airtel Africa financial statement issued over the weekend, experienced a revenue growth of 7.5 per cent in reported currency, reaching 883 million US dollars and was also 19.1 per cent growth in constant currency.

The Airtel Africa, Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sunil Taldar, said in a statement that the revenue showing increasing demand for data services combined with low levels of banking penetration and increasing smartphone and digital payment adoption across the continent.

“We have already seen strong progress, with an acceleration in constant currency revenue growth,” Mr Taldar said adding “as demand for our services remains strong, reflected in the 48 per cent growth in data volumes over the first half of the year, despite the challenging backdrop in some of our markets.”

This constant currency growth was driven by an increase in data revenue, which reached 355 million US dollars compared to 309 million US dollars in the same period last year.

Despite contributing to the constant currency growth during the period, the group’s voice revenue slightly declined by 0.4 per cent to 439 million US dollars from 441 million US dollars, primarily due to stagnation in the voice Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).

ALSO READ:  TIC, Airtel ink MoU to facilitate investment

“The voice ARPU was negatively impacted by a reduction in interconnect rates by regulators in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda,” the report states.

Additionally, the mobile data customer base grew by 12.1 per cent and data ARPU increased by 10 per cent, driving strong performance in data revenues. In the half-year, total data usage per customer increased to 5.9 gigabytes per customer per month, up by 28.4 per cent, with smartphone penetration rising by 4.9 per cent to reach 40.2 per cent.

Smartphone data usage per customer reached 7.4 GB per month, compared to 6.1 GB per month in the prior period. Furthermore, the group’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the Eastern region increased by 2.5 per cent to 418 million US dollars, up from 408 million US dollars in the same period last year.

EBITDA margins of 47.3 per cent declined by 233 basis points due to rising fuel prices in several key markets. However, in Q2’25, the EBITDA margin improved compared to Q1’25.

The difference in growth rates between constant currency and reported currency is primarily due to the devaluation of the Zambian kwacha, the Malawian kwacha and the Tanzanian shilling, partially offset by the appreciation of the Kenyan shilling.

On the contrary, Airtel Africa’s overall revenue in reported currency declined by 9.7 per cent to 2.37 billion US dollars during the period down from 2.623 billion US dollars posted in the same period last year.

The reported currency revenue growth was significantly impacted by currency devaluations in Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania. Moreover, the Airtel Africa’s EBITDA in reported currency declined by 16.5 per cent to 1.087 billion US dollars, reflecting the impact of currency devaluation during the period, particularly in Nigeria.

The lower contribution from Nigeria, following significant naira depreciation and a roughly 90 per cent increase in fuel prices, were primary drivers of the margin decline over the past year.

Despite the challenge, the Airtel Africa continues to invest in its network and distribution infrastructure to enhance mobile connectivity and financial inclusion across its countries of operation.

“In particular, we have continued to invest in expanding our 4G and 5G networks to increase data capacity, deploy new sites—especially in rural areas—thereby enhancing coverage and connectivity,” the report states.

The Airtel Africa provides telecom and mobile money services in 14 emerging markets of SubSaharan Africa.

In line with our strategic pillar of “Digitise and Simplify,” Airtel Africa made significant strides in streamlining digital offerings and improving customer experiences through innovative technologies.

Additionally, Airtel Africa said continuing devaluation of continental currencies, slowed down its net profit to a 24 million US dollars in the second quarter, July-September compared to 115 million US dollars in the same quarter of the previous year.