Airtel Nigeria revenue dropped by 40.34% to $738 million for 9 months ending Dec 2024

Nigeria’s second-largest telecom operator, Airtel Nigeria, saw its mobile services revenue decline to $738 million for the year ending December 31, 2024. This represents a 40.34% decrease from the $1.2 billion recorded in the previous year. 

Contained in an annual financial report dated January 2025, the breakdown of the mobile service saw voice revenue slip by 46.34% to $315 million and data revenue drop to $344 million in December 2024. This represents a 36.28% shift from the $539 million recorded in December 2023. 

Other revenues, such as inter-segment revenue, also witnessed the same negative trend, falling from $112 million to $79 million, though mobile money revenue increased from $1 million to $3 million. 

The result comes after Airtel Nigeria witnessed a 3.17% growth in total subscribers from 50.5 million to 52.1 million. The same trend was applied to the customer database, which surged from 26.1 million to 28.2 million. 

Data usage per customer increased by 37.2% to 8.4 GB per month (from 6.2 GB in 2023), with smartphone penetration increasing 6.4% to 49.5%. Smartphone data usage per customer reached 11.2 GB per month compared to 8.8 GB per month in the prior period.

EBITDA of $360m declined by 46.4% in reported currency but increased by 20.6% in constant currency. The EBITDA margin declined by 557 basis points to 48.8% reflecting continued inflationary pressures across the business, particularly from the naira devaluation and fuel prices as average diesel prices in Nigeria increased by approximately 60% compared to the prior period.

“Operating free cash flow was $257m, up by 85.0% in constant currency, largely due to the constant currency EBITDA growth while in reported currency, operating free cash flow declined by 48.0% due to lower reported currency EBITDA following the significant Nigerian naira devaluation over the year,” part of the report states.

The report comes even as Airtel Nigeria adjusted its voice and data pricing model by up to 50%. It increased voice call tariffs over the weekend where the SMS charge is now N6, up from N4.

The new review comes amid the ongoing data and voice price hikes by mobile operators following the 50% telecom tariff adjustment by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). 

“The tariff adjustments reflect a balanced approach to ensuring the sustainability of the telecommunications sector while safeguarding the interests of consumers. The adjustments will support the continued growth of the industry and will enable us to continue investing in network infrastructure, expanding coverage, and delivering improved products and services that meet the evolving needs of our customers,” a statement from the report reads.  

The new Airtel price, which affects various data bundles, is a response to ongoing industry concerns over the impact of inflation, forex volatility, and escalating operational costs. 

With the tariff adjustment, the company will seek to bounce back and scale up its revenue while maintaining investment plans in network upgrades. 

“The price increase, which was highly needed for the survival and continued growth of the industry, will enable us to continue investing in network infrastructure, expanding coverage, and delivering improved products and services that meet the evolving needs of our customers,” Airtel Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Dinesh Balsingh, said. 

Similar Read: Airtel adjusts data and voice call prices by almost 50%; see the new price list.

Airtel Africa performance

Compared to its Nigerian subsidiary, Airtel Africa recorded a profit after tax of $248 million (N190.4 billion) for the same period. It experienced an exceptional gain of $94 million following the appreciation of the Nigerian naira and Tanzanian shilling.

Also, Airtel Africa’s revenue in mobile services increased by 21.3% while mobile money transaction revenue increased by 29.6% to $731 million. 

Likewise, its subscriber base grew by 7.9% to 163.1 million, driving revenue growth in data services. The company also continues to invest heavily in expanding its network, with capital expenditures (Capex) totalling $456 million (N352 bn) for the period.

On mobile money, its continued expansion of mobile financial services led to an 18.3% rise in mobile money subscribers, reaching 44.3 million. Revenue from mobile services grew by 18.8% in constant currency. This was driven by voice revenue growth of 9.8%, data revenue growth of 29.5%, and mobile money revenue growth of 29.6%.

Airtel Africa reported a 20.4% increase in revenue (in constant currency) to $3.64 billion for the nine-month period driven by strong subscriber growth and increased mobile money adoption. Its revenue in reported currency declined by 5.8%, reflecting the impact of currency devaluations across its markets.

Also, the company’s data customers increased by 13.8% to 71.4 million as data usage per customer surged by 32.3% to 6.9 GBs. This gained momentum from the rise in smartphone penetration by 5.2% to 44.2%.

Commenting on the financial statement, Airtel Africa’s Chief Executive Officer, Sunil Taldar, emphasized that the company’s strategic focus on network investment, customer journey digitization, and speed in execution is helping Airtel Africa unlock substantial growth opportunities across its markets.

“We have delivered an improvement in both the operating and financial performance in the last quarter driven by our refined strategy which is focused on delivering great customer experience across all touchpoints. An increasingly important component of this is to provide a best-in-class network, digitize and simplify the customer journey,” he said. 

Taldar added that the company’s focus on speed and quality execution unlocks substantial opportunities for growth across its markets and business segments, where demand remains significant. This resulted in a further acceleration of constant currency revenue growth to 21.3% in the most recent quarter.

The boss noted that Airtel Africa remains committed to investing for the future by expanding its distribution and network to ensure that the company captures the significant growth opportunity on offer.

“Despite the challenging environment for many of our customers, we continue to see strong demand for our services as we enable connectivity and facilitate access to the digital economy,” Taldar expressed.