In a press release issued on July 30, 2024, Airtel Africa revealed a 12% increase in mobile data revenue for its East African market for the first quarter ending June 30, 2024. The East African region consists of six countries: Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi and Zambia.
According to Airtel Africa, East African mobile data revenue increased to $170 million during the quarter (from April to July), up from $151 million during the same period the previous year. Airtel Africa attributed the growth to significant expansion in the East African mobile data market.
In East Africa, the number of Mobile Data subscribers using Airtel rose, and the amount of data purchased by the various clients skyrocketed, resulting in this growth. “Data consumption per client increased by 25.1% to 6.2 GB, resulting in revenue of $409 million.
According to Airtel Africa, “East Africa significantly contributed to this performance, with a 14.6% increase in data customers and a 7.1% rise in data Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), resulting in US$170 million in regional revenue.”
These achievements were fuelled by strategic investments in network expansion and enhancement. 4G network coverage expanded to 97.6% of sites (from 90.4% in the previous quarter), and 5G technology was introduced in four markets with 871 enabled sites.
East Africa mobile services revenue grew by 6.5% to $423 million, driven by a 12.4% increase in voice revenue and a 25.7% increase in data revenue, and growth in other revenue streams.
The East African Airtel Money business thrived, with revenue soaring 31.7% to US$167 million compared to US$155 million in the same period last year. The Airtel Money network processed over $120 billion in annualised transaction value and mobile money revenue contributed 19.2% of total Group revenue, up from 14.6% in the previous quarter.
Sunil Taldar, CEO of Airtel Africa, commented on the continent’s overall telecom performance, saying, “Having visited most of our operating companies since I joined Airtel Africa, I am encouraged by the scale of the opportunity available across our markets in both the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and mobile money business.”
A primary focus for us is to seek out new chances expanding our business, particularly in the enterprise, fibre, and data centre markets throughout Africa.
He explained: “Airtel has initiated a comprehensive cost optimisation programme across the Group and we have already seen success in this project, with savings arising in network and distribution costs, and continued opportunities as contract renegotiations continue. A healthy financial structure is essential for realising our aspirations and future-proofing our growth targets. The growth opportunity in our markets is enticing, and we continue to focus on margin improvement, as demonstrated in our FY’24 performance.”
Airtel Africa, sometimes known as Airtel, is an Indian multinational business that operates telecommunications and mobile money services in 14 African countries, especially in East, Central, and West Africa. Airtel Africa is majority-owned by Bharti Airtel, an Indian telecommunications business.