LAGOS – Airtel Africa, a telecommunications company, has reported a 13% revenue growth for the second quarter of 2022.
Total revenues, for mobile services and mobile money services combined, grew in Nigeria by 18.3%, in East Africa by 14.1%, and in Francophone Africa by 11.7%.
On its own the mobile money service grew by 26.5%, driven by growth of 26.9% in East Africa and 25.4% in Francophone Africa.
The company’s operating profit grew by 20.6% to $425 million.
Segun Ogunsanya, CEO of Airtel, expressed satisfaction with the results.
“I am pleased to report that the Group has continued to post double-digit revenue growth, margin improvement and strong earnings growth. I am also particularly pleased with our ongoing strengthening of the balance sheet which continued after the period ended,
with early repayment of $450m of debt at Group level,” Ogusanya said.
Ogusanya also pointed out that the company faced headwinds from outbound voice calls barring for customers who had not yet registered their National Identification Numbers in Nigeria, as well as the loss of site sharing revenue in operating countries where they recently sold towers.
“Inflation is also having an impact on our cost base, particularly on energy costs, but our continued efficiency drives have ensured that we have still been able to increase our margins, albeit at a slightly slower rate,” he added.
“We continue to target growth ahead of the market this year and, despite inflationary pressures, our continued focus on cost efficiencies should also support margin resilience,” Ogusanya said.
Ogusanya expressed confidence that the company will grow in underpenetrated markets as well, with the help of mobile voice, data, and mobile money services and they continue to be the most revenue-generating services in most of their markets.
Independent