Airtel Africa, the second-largest telecom operator in Africa, has released its yearly performance report for FY24. The telco said that its overall customer base grew by 9% to 152.7 million. The data customers grew by 17.8% to 64.4 million and there was also a 20.8% increase in data usage per customer. The mobile money subscriber base also grew by 20.7% and the total transaction value increased by 38.2% in constant currency with an annual transaction value of over $112 billion.
Airtel Africa's ARPU grew at a rate of 8.6%. The telco said that it continued investing in network infrastructure and increased the 4G coverage. 95% of Airtel Africa's mobile sites are now 4G operational, facilitating a 42.3% increase in 4G customers over the year.
Read More - Airtel Africa Reports 9.1 Percent Growth in Customer Base, Announces Share Buy-Back Program
Despite the increasing customer base and an expanded 4G coverage, the telco's net loss for the year stood at $165 million, and for Q4 FY24, the net loss was $104 million. Airtel Africa said that the loss is primarily due to currency devaluation, particularly in Nigeria.
The group's mobile services revenue grew by 19.4% in constant currency. Mobile money revenue grew by 32.8% in constant currency, with a continued strong performance in East Africa.
Capex (capital expenditure) was almost flat at $737 million and was below the guidance of the company, primarily because a lot of capex was deferred to investments in data centers. Further, the telco spent $152 million on license renewal and spectrum acquisitions, along with $127 million in Nigerian 3G license renewal.
Read More - Airtel Africa Launches Telesonic, Wholesale Unit for Fibre Bandwidth Services
"The consistent deployment of our ‘Win with’ strategy supported the acceleration in constant currency revenue growth over the recent quarters which has reduced the impact of currency headwinds faced across most of our markets. This strong revenue performance is a reflection not only of the opportunity that is inherent across our markets, but also the resilience of our affordable offerings despite the inflationary pressure many of our customers have experienced," said Olusegun Ogunsanya, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Airtel Africa.
