Africa Stars in Airtel’s Q3 Results

Bharti Airtel had a tough time in its home market of India in the final three months of 2017 but its African operations proved a bright spot for the operator, it revealed in its fiscal third quarter results.

Bharti Airtel reported group revenues of US$3.14 billion for its fiscal third quarter ending December 31, 2017, down from $3.45 billion a year earlier, due to a 11% dip in revenues from its India operations, which is coming under intense competitive pressure. (See How Airtel Fought Back Against RJio and Another Tough Year in Store for Indian Telcos – Research.)

In Africa, though, the story was one of growth. Across its remaining 14 markets - the operator merged its Ghana operation with that of rival Millicom in November - Airtel reported revenues of $783 million, up by 5% from a year earlier, and grew its African customer base to 84.13 million, up from 80.4 million at the end of 2016. Those customers used 41.9 billion minutes of voice traffic during the quarter, equivalent to 172 minutes per customer, up from 34.4 billion minutes, or 152 minutes per customer, a year earlier. Average revenue per user (ARPU), however, dipped slightly from $3.3 per month to $3.2.

Mobile data usage soared. Of its total African user base, 23.3 million customers were using mobile data services, up by nearly 40% from a year earlier. A total of 65.5 billion Mbytes of data flowed over Airtel's Africa networks during the quarter, compared with 33.6 billion Mbytes in the comparative quarter a year earlier, while the data usage per customer grew to 997 Mbytes from 671 Mbytes.

Airtel had 19,054 mobile towers across Africa at the end of 2017, up from 18,864 at the end of 2016 and 16,863 mobile broadband-enabled base stations, up from 12,553 a year earlier: 3G has been rolled out in all 14 countries and 4G across four countries.

The number of customers using the Airtel Money platform increased by 21.7% to 10.4 million, up from 8.6 million a year earlier. The total number of transactions during the quarter increased by 32% to 472 million, from 358 million. The total value of Airtel Money transactions grew by 37.9% to $5.36 billion during the fiscal third quarter, up from $3.89 billion a year earlier.

Airtel Africa CEO Raghunath Mandava stated: "During the quarter our sustained focus on data and Airtel Money led to 95.3% increase in data traffic and 37.9% increase in Money transactions. Our plans continue to focus on investments in mobile broadband to deliver superior customer experience and we remain well positioned to capture the large untapped opportunities available across the continent."

Airtel has operations in the following African markets: Nigeria, Chad, Congo B, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Madagascar, Niger, Kenya, Malawi, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Rwanda. All offer 3G and Airtel Money services. Airtel is still believed to have at least some of its African operations under review and may consider further divestments or joint ventures. (See Airtel Downplays Africa Exit Talk – Report.)