. Claimscash scarcity impact earnings in first quarter 2023
Voice anddata services have earned Airtel Nigeria N892 billion, according to the auditedfinancial report released yesterday by Airtel’s parent company, Airtel Africa tothe Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX).
Specifically, the Nigeria operating companyrecorded a 13.4 per cent growth in voice revenue to N484.9 billion ($1.053billion), while data revenue for the period rose by 27.8 per cent to N407.1billion ($884 million).
The N892 billion is outside other revenues,including those from digital services and fintech operations.
Airtel, however, pointed out that theresults would have been better but for the cash scarcity experienced in Nigeriain the first quarter of this year, which slowed down its revenue in the period.
According to Airtel, 50 per cent of totalrecharges by Nigerians are cash-based, which was why its revenue was impactedby the recent cash crunch.
While highlighting the impact of data onits results, Airtel disclosed that its 2023 revenue was boosted by both datacustomer base growth of 17.3 per cent and data ARPU growth of 9.9 per cent.
Commenting on Airtel Nigeria data push andconsumption, Airtel Africa CEO, Segun Ogunsanya said: “Over the last year, wehave enhanced our 4G network with ample data network capacity to providehigh-speed data to our customers with almost 100 per cent of our sites now on4G and data capacity increase of 27.5 per cent.
“This has contributed to 4G data customergrowth of 27.6 per cent. Data usage per customer increased by 24.8 per centfacilitating continued data ARPU growth. Data usage per customer reached 5 GBper customer per month from 4 GB per customer per month in the previous period.
“In Q4’23, 4G data usage per customerincreased to 9.5 GB per month (up by 46.5%) from 6.5 GB per customer per monthin prior period. 4G data usage now contributes to 80.4 per cent of total datausage on our network.”
Speaking on improving the firm’s serviceofferings, Airtel said it would continue to push quality data offering byexpanding its 4G coverage, while the soon-to-be-launched 5G will enhance theexperience for its customers.
“The acquisition of 5G spectrum willunderpin our growth strategy by enabling the launch of higher speedconnectivity to enhance customer service and accelerate digitalization forconsumers, enterprises, and the public sector.
“The key benefits of 5G will include higherspeeds, lower latency, significant network capacity as well as an improved userexperience. Further, the deployment of 5G will accelerate the availability andefficiency of fixed wireless access products across the country, contributingtowards Airtel Nigeria’s progress in meeting the National Broadband Plantargets.” Ogunsanya said.
The Airtel Africa CEO said over the lastyear, the operating environment has been challenging in many ways, “yet ourstrategic focus on providing reliable, affordable and accessible servicesacross our markets has enabled us to sustain our top-line growth momentum. The resilienceof our underlying EBITDA margins has shown the effectiveness of our operatingmodel, despite significant inflationaryand foreign exchange pressures. Strong customer and ARPU growth over the yeardemonstrates that demand for our services remains very strongand gives us theconfidence to continue investing to support ourfuture growth potential. Overthe year, we invested $500 million on additional spectrum, including 5G, acrossmany of our OpCoswhich,combined with our capex,will underpin our growth ambitions.Despite this investment, and driven by a disciplined capital allocation policy,our balance sheet remains strong and has been further de-risked over the lastyear by the prepayment of $450 million HoldCo debt in July last year.”
