Airtel Africa’s nine-month profit soars to $248m in recovery from losses

By Joseph Olaoluwa

In a major comeback from heavy losses triggered by naira devaluations, Airtel Africa reported a profit after tax of $248 million in the nine months to December, compared to $2 million a year earlier.

The telecoms company, which operates in 14 African countries, however saw its 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. 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.

Its earnings 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 rose to $1.45 billion and data revenues increased to $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.

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“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 the regulator’s 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.

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