(4 minutes read)
· It seems to be a very good time for Airtel Africa: Its
revenue growth from mobile money and data services across its
operations in Africa has looked up
· In the last fiscal year 2019-20, the company booked a
year-on-year jump of 36 per cent in data revenue to US$930 million,
and a 33 per cent increase in profit.
· The revenue from mobile money has risen to US$311 million,
while its total business revenue ( (telecom and mobile money)
increased by 11 per cent to US$3.4 billion.
It seems to be a very good time for Airtel Africa. Its revenue growth
from mobile money and data services across its operations in Africa
has looked up. On the flipside, a one-off tax payment to the Nigerian
authorities shaved off the net profit in its first annual results
since issuance of IPO. Airtel Africa operates in 14 countries in
Africa. It has reported an overall continued growth with Nigeria and
East Africa posting a strong performance. Also, in Francophone
Africa, the telco has shown continued improvement especially in the
fourth quarter.
In the last fiscal year 2019-20, the company booked a year-on-year
jump of 36 per cent in data revenue to US$930 million, and a 33 per
cent increase in profit. The revenue from mobile money has risen to
US$311 million, while its total business revenue ( (telecom and
mobile money) increased by 11 per cent to US$3.4 billion. However,
the net profit fell by 4.4 per cent to US$408 million due to the
settlement of a tax payment in Nigeria, which had been deferred from
its previous fiscal year.
Expressing satisfaction over the company’s performance, Airtel
Africa’s CEO Raghunath Mandava said the company delivered a strong set
of results in its financial year, although it had entered a period of
“increased volatility” as a fallout of the Covid-19. However, he
pointed out that the company’s performance during the month of April
has been resilient as the business continued to deliver
constant-currency revenue growth, at a lower rate.
Listing out the measures introduced by the company to offset the
impact of pandemic on the user community, Raghunath said that
transaction fees on selected mobile money services was reduced. Also,
the company is now offering free text messages and increasing data
allowances for some users.
The company feels that it can take advantage of the low data
penetration rate in many of its markets and feels that it can scale
its mobile money operation to enhance the data penetration so as to
increase its footprint across kiosks, mini shops and Airtel Money
stores. The company is also planning to add new services including
loans and savings; and will enter partner agreements with financial
companies and banks for international transfers. Some of the major
markets of Airtel Africa include
Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Gabon and The Democratic Republic of the
Congo. It conducted an IPO on the London Stock Exchange in July 2019.
