Airtel Africa Grows Customer Base by 11.0 Percent to 118.9 Million in Q3

Airtel Africa Plc, Africa’s leading telecommunications giant, on Friday announced it grew revenue by 13.8 percent to $2,870 million and customer base by 11 percent to 118.9 million in the third quarter (Q3) ended December 31, 2020.

Airtel Africa Key Highlights

• Reported revenue increased by 13.8% to $2,870m with Q3’21 reported revenue growth of 19.5%.
• Constant currency underlying revenue growth was 18.6%, with Q3’21 growth of 22.8%. Growth for the nine months was recorded across all regions: Nigeria up 21.6%, East Africa up 23.4% and Francophone Africa up 8.0%; and across all services, with voice revenue up 10.4%, data up 31.1% and mobile money up 34.2%.
• Underlying EBITDA for the nine months was $1,297m, up 16% in reported currency while constant currency underlying EBITDA growth was 22.5%.
• Underlying EBITDA margin for the nine months was 45.5%, up by 118 bps (up 144 bps in constant currency). Q3’21 underlying EBITDA margin was 46.9%.
• Operating profit increased by 21.8% to $800m in reported currency, and by 29.9% in constant currency.
• Free cash flow was $466m, up 20% compared to the same period last year.
• Basic EPS was 5.5 cents, down 36.5%, largely due to prior year exceptional items and a one-off derivative gain. Excluding these, basic EPS rose by 19.8%. EPS before exceptional items was 5.0 cents.
• Customer base up 11.0% to 118.9 million, with increased penetration across mobile data (customer base up 23.5%) and mobile money services (customer base up 29.0%). 2.5 million customers were added in Q3’21.

Raghunath Mandava, chief executive officer, on the trading update: “Our nine-month performance reflects both the resilience of our business model through the Covid-19 pandemic and, for the last six months, a continued improvement in our execution and performance as lockdown restrictions have eased across our countries of operation.

“I am particularly pleased with our performance in the latest third quarter, which has demonstrated accelerated growth in both revenue and underlying EBITDA in constant currency to 22.8% and 28.3% respectively.

“In part this is due to our continued delivery of strong customer growth in Q3, despite the introduction mid-December of additional customer registration requirements in Nigeria. This has meant a temporary halt to the ability of all operators in the country to onboard new customers. But we are working closely with the government to ensure that all our subscribers provide their valid National Identification Numbers (NINs) and update their SIM registration records, such that disruption is minimised.

“Our performance improvement is evident across the business. Regionally, I am pleased to see that the continued strong revenue growth in Nigeria and East Africa, growing 21.6% and 23.4% in constant currency, is increasingly being matched by improvements across Francophone Africa, posting 8.0% growth for the period and 15.0% in Q3. Our rollout into rural markets, along with robust customer growth, helped voice grow 10%, while data and mobile money continued to be growth engines, with over 30% growth.

“Finally, while the Covid-19 pandemic has had little impact on our most recent quarter, we remain vigilant about the recent news flow around new strains of the virus and further actions by governments to minimise contagion in our countries of operation. The opportunities for sustainable profitable growth from our underpenetrated markets for both mobile and mobile money services remain hugely attractive, and we are confident of continuing to deliver on our growth strategy.”