Airtel East Africa mobile services segment has registered a 6.5 percent revenue growth, amounting to USD 423 million in the quarter ending June 2024. The growth is a departure from the USD 397 million revenue registered in the previous year of 2023.
The Airtel East Africa region comprises six countries including; Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi and Zambia.
Airtel revenue growth in East Africa was driven by a 12.4% increase in voice revenue, and a 25.7% increase in data revenue, and the Airtel Money business thrived, with revenue soaring 31.7% to USD 167 million compared to USD 155 million in the same period last year.
The company’s East Africa mobile data revenue increased to USD 170 million during the quarter, up from USD 151 million during the same period the previous year. Airtel Africa attributed the growth to significant expansion in the East African mobile data market.
At Airtel Africa group level, data usage per customer surged by 25.1% to 6.2 GB, generating revenue of upto USD 409 million. East Africa contributed significantly to this performance, with a 14.6% increase in data customers and a 7.1% rise in data Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), resulting in USD 170 million in regional revenue.
These achievements were fueled by strategic investments in network expansion and enhancement. 4G network coverage expanded to 97.6% of sites from 90.4% in the previous quarter, and 5G technology was introduced in four markets with 871 enabled sites.
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The Airtel Money network processed over USD 120 billion in annualised transaction value and mobile money revenue contributed 19.2% of total Group revenue, up from 14.6% in the previous quarter.
Commenting on the overall performance of the telecom across the continent, Airtel Africa’s Chief Executive Officer Sunil Taldar said: “Having visited most of our operating companies since I joined Airtel Africa, I am encouraged by the scale of the opportunity available across our markets in both the GSM and mobile money business. A key priority for us is to look for new opportunities to further grow our business especially in the enterprise, fibre and data centre businesses across our footprint in Africa.”
Mr Taldar noted that Airtel has initiated a comprehensive cost optimisation programme across the Group with savings arising in network and distribution costs, and continued opportunities as contract renegotiations continue.
“A strong capital structure is critical to enabling our ambitions and future proofing our ambitious growth targets. The growth opportunity across our markets remains compelling and we continue to focus on margin improvement as indicated in our FY’24 results.” Mr Taldar remarked.
