Airtel Africa’s financial report for the period ended December 2024 has revealed that the telecom operator suffered losses only in Nigeria, its largest market.
The telecom company, which is present in 14 African countries, including Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Chad, and Gabon, recorded a revenue drop of $500 million to $738 million in Nigeria, a 40.3% drop from the $1.23 billion it recorded in 2023.
This significant loss in revenue is despite the telco increasing its user base by 8.2% (50.5 million to 52.1 million) and increasing data usage per customer by 37.2% (6.2GB to 8.2GB per month).
According to Airtel Africa, the major culprit for this revenue decline is “the significant devaluation of the Nigerian naira.” It said the naira “devalued from a weighted average NGN/USD rate of 677 in the prior nine-month period to NGN/USD 1,532 in the current period.”
While the telco also faced currency devaluation problems in East African countries like Malawi and Zambia, it still reported a revenue increase of $140 million — $1.22 billion to $1.367 billion — in the region within the nine-month period ending in December 2024.
In Francophone Africa, revenue increased by 6.1% from $912 million to $968 million. However, overall revenue from mobile services took an 8.8% hit, going down from $3.37 billion to $3.07 billion.
Across all markets, data remains the largest revenue source for Airtel Africa. In Nigeria, data revenue reduced by 34%, going from $539 million to $344 million. In East and Francophone Africa, on the other hand, data revenue increased by 19.4% and 19.5% respectively.
With Nigeria being Airtel Africa’s largest market, overall operating profit from mobile services dropped by 23.8%, reducing from $976 million to $744 million.
This trend is similar to other telcos like MTN, which suffered an after-tax loss of ₦137 billion in 2023 and ₦656.4 billion in net foreign exchange losses.
Meanwhile, the 50% tariff increase approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) could help telcos cushion the effect of Nigeria’s currency devaluation.
Airtel Africa described it as “a balanced approach to ensuring the sustainability of the telecommunications sector while safeguarding the interests of consumers.”
However, experts say telcos need to find other sources of revenue, as the 50% hike may not suffice.
