One of the leading mobile telecommunication giant in Nigeria and by extension Africa, Airtel Africa Plc has recorded strong performance across key performance indicators in its third quarter as Nigeria, its largest market, paced up ahead of others to sustain impressive group performance.

In a Key extracts of the nine-month results for the period ended December 31, 2021 revealed that  Airtel Africa’s net profit after tax rose from $261 million in December 2020 to $514 million in December 2021.

Recall that Airtel Africa has presence in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East Africa and Central and

Furthermore the Group revenue grew by 22.5 per cent from $2.85 billion to $3.49 billion. Operating  profit increased by 43.1 per cent from $800 million to $1.15 billion.

Meanwhile Profit before tax jumped by  79.4 per cent from $482 million in December 2020 to $864 million in December 2021.

In all of these assertions, Top-line analysis indicated that voice revenue grew by 13.6 per cent from $1.54 billion to $1.75 billion. Data revenue rode on the back of increased data users to $1.13 billion in December 2021, 33.9 per cent on $842 million posted in December 2020. Mobile money revenue also grew by 39.6 per cent from $291 million to $406 million. Other revenues increased by 19.9 per cent from $255 million to $306 million.

The underlying customer base showed that the group continued to expand across its businesses. Total customer base rose by 5.8 per cent from 118.9 million users to 125.8 million users. Data users grew by 11.1 per cent from 40.6 million to 45.1 million while mobile money users increased by 19.6 per cent from 21.5 million to 25.7 million users.

A breakdown showed that Nigeria, Airtel Africa’s largest market, outperformed the group with Nigeria’s revenue rising by 21.5 per cent from $1.13 billion to $1.37 billion. Operating profit increased by 30.4 per cent from $431 million to $562 million. Total customer base in Nigeria however dipped marginally by 4.7 per cent from 44.4 million to 42.4 million. Nigeria’s data customer base meanwhile increased slightly by 0.7 per cent from 18.8 million to 19.0 million users.  Nigeria’s customer base was affected by the National Identity Number (NIN)/SIM regulations in Nigeria.

Chief Executive Officer, Airtel Africa Plc, Segun Ogunsanya, said a strong third quarter performance contributed to the pleasing nine-month financial performance across all key metrics.

He therefore said he is particularly pleased with developments in Nigeria, where in November the company received approval in principle for both a payment service bank (mobile money) licence and a super-agent licence.