Airtel Africa has registered strong customer growth and revenue growth in Q2 2024, after a difficult 2023 in which losses mounted after currency devaluation in some of its key markets. The telecoms firm, which operates in 14 African countries, reported Ksh. 4.1 billion (USD 31 million) in profit after tax, compared to a loss of Ksh. 20 billion (USD 151 million) in Q1 2023.
Total customer base grew by 8.6% to 155.4 million. Data customer penetration across the continent continues to rise, driving a 13.4% increase in data customers to 64.4 million. Likewise, data usage per customer increased by 25.1% to 6.2 GBs, with smartphone penetration increasing 4.7% to reach 41.7%.
Mobile money subscriber growth of 14.9% reflects our continued investment into distribution to support increased financial inclusion across our markets. Transaction value increased by 28.7% in constant currency with annualized transaction value of USD 120 billion in reported currency.
Revenue in constant currency grew by 19.0% in Q1’24, driven by 33.4% growth in Nigeria and 22.3% growth in East Africa, respectively. Across the Group mobile services revenue grew by 17.4% and Mobile Money revenue grew by 28.4% in constant currency.
A substantial increase in fuel prices across our markets and the lower contribution of Nigeria to the Group after the naira devaluation contributed to a decline in EBITDA margins to 45.3% from 49.5% in Q1’24 and 46.5% in Q4’24. However, constant currency EBITDA increased 11.3% whilst reported currency EBITDA declined by 23.3% to USD 523 million.
The translation impact of currency devaluation on reported currency results was the primary driver of EPS before exceptional items declining from 3.9 cents in the prior period to 2.3 cents. Basic EPS of 0.2 cents compares to negative (4.5 cents) in the prior period, predominantly reflecting the USD 471 million of exceptional derivative and foreign exchange losses in the prior period, compared to USD 122 million in the current period.
Commenting on the latest financial reports, Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa said, “The continued revenue growth momentum once again reflects the resilient demand for our services, with sustained growth in our customer base and usage. Our superior execution enables us to capture these opportunities, whilst retaining our reputation as a cost leader across the industry. Having visited most of our OpCos 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.”