Airtel Nigeria Reports Revenue Loss of $110 Million Due to Devaluation of Naira, Barred SIM Cards

Telecommunications company Airtel Nigeria reported a loss of $110 million in revenue due to the devaluation of the Naira and barred SIM cards in the country as a result of mandatory NIN registration.

The telecoms company reported a loss of $82 million on the devaluation of Naira in the year under review. Also, due to the NIN registration requirement, Airtel reports that a total of 13.6 million customers were barred, out of which 6.4 million customers have subsequently submitted their NINs and 3.5 million customers have been fully verified and unbarred.

The barring of outgoing calls for customers who had not submitted their NINs had an adverse impact on voice revenue, the company revealed. Meanwhile, Voice revenue increased by 13.4 percent in constant currency, largely driven by customer base growth of 9.0 percent supported by voice ARPU growth of 0.9 percent.

The telecoms company via its financial statement disclosed that the losses occurred between March 2022 to March 2023.

Despite the loss, Airtel which operates in Nigeria, East Africa, and Francophone Africa reported revenue growth from 17.6 percent to $5.2bn (N2.39trn) by March 2023 from $4.71bn (N2.17trn) recorded in March 2022.

The growth was boosted by its Nigerian market which accounts for 40 percent of its total revenue for the year.

Airtel’s total voice revenue was $2.49 billion  (N1.14trn) out of which $1.053 billion (N485.16bn) was raised from the Nigerian market. Data revenue increased to $1.78 billion (N820.1bn) with the Nigerian market contributing $884 million (N407.3m) out of the whole.

Data revenue increased by 27.8 percent in constant currency, driven by both data customer base growth of 17.3 percent and data ARPU growth of 9.9 percent.

Airtel’s Nigerian operations maintained a positive EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) of $1,099 million, an 11.8% increase in constant currency.

However, Airtel’s profit from mall operations fell from $755m (N347.87bn) in March 2022 to $750m (N345.56bn) in March 2023.

Looking ahead, Airtel Africa cited long-term attractive opportunities despite currency devaluation, which it aims to mitigate, Investor King understands