Browsing: Airtel Africa

The first quarter of 2021 ended on a great note as two African fintech businesses gained unicorn status, a rare fit amidst a ragging global pandemic that is finally being aggressively tackled by the speedy supply of much-needed vaccines. Such is the African story – a trail of surprises in the midst of uncertainty. On 18^th March 2021, Airtel Africa announced it had received a $200M investment from TPG’s Rise Fund at a valuation of $2.65B making it the latest African unicorn[1]. Exactly a week before, March 10^th, 2021, Flutterwave from Nigeria also announced a $170M investment from Avenir Growth Capital, Tiger Global Management and others at a billion-dollar valuation[2]. In the tech world hitting a billion-dollar valuation is a big deal – you earn the name Unicorn, a mythical animal that represents the statistical rarity of successful ventures coined in 2013 by …

Airtel recorded a 14 per cent growth in revenue to $ 659 million in East Africa for the six months ending September citing an increase in subscribers.

According to Airtel’s financial report, voice revenues saw a growth of 5.4 per cent to $312 million across the East African market which includes Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Malawi and Zambia.

Data service recorded a 21.2 per cent growth in revenues to $ 174 million while mobile money as well saw a 33.2 per cent growth in revenues to $132 million during the period under review.

The telecom said that the double growth in revenue is due to an increase in subscriber numbers from 12.1 million to 14.9 million as well as 4G infrastructure network expansion from 60 per cent to 68.6 per cent of the sites in the period under review.

“Our mobile network in Uganda, Zambia and Malawi now consists of …

Africa has more digital financial services deployments than any other region in the world, with almost half of the nearly 700 million individual users worldwide.…

Airtel Africa said its first-half Capex (Capital Expenditure) dropped by 12.4 per cent to $216 million, mostly due to the impact of import logistics during the pandemic period.

In a worst-case scenario, Airtel Africa it could be able to reduce Capex significantly without compromising network quality by prioritising expenditure.

Airtel Africa

The telecom said that it is continuing to invest in the mobile network and it has not changed its commitment to spend planned $650 million to $700 million.

During the first quarter of fiscal 2020-2, Airtel CAPEX in Nigeria was $97 million, in  Francophone Africa at $36 million and in East Africa at $81 million.

The strategy of the telecom group is to invest in the network by expanding 4G coverage and building capacity to cater to the needs of its customers and to continue providing them with high-speed data.

The group said the expansion of 4G coverage and …

Many investors are targeting the sector which has helped expand financial inclusion in Sub Saharan Africa.…

Airtel was ranked as the leading data speed provider with slightly above 14 megabits per second (Mbps) a report from the latest Quality of Service study (QoS) released by the telecom regulator.

According to the Uganda Communications Commission, the Quality of Service study (QoS was carried out to determine telecom performance in success, blocked call rates and dropped call rates and data speeds described as throughput (speed).

The report indicates that telecoms in Uganda registered the highest speeds in rural areas and slower speeds in the urban and peri-urban.

Also Read: Data, mobile money steer Airtel’s revenue growth

From the study, the Airtel network was the quickest in nearly every jurisdiction.
For instance, in an area where Airtel had an average speed of 14mbps, MTN was slightly above 4mbps and 3mbps.

Last year, Airtel Africa embarked on an exercise aimed at boosting the company’s infrastructure to upgrade its internet. The …

Revenue from data and mobile money drove Airtel Africa’s operations, boosting the company’s overall revenue by 9.9 per cent.

The Airtel’s revenue grew to $2.5 billion for the nine months ended December 31 from $2.2 billion in 2018.

According to data from the telecom, Airtel Africa realised a 3.9 per cent increase in voice revenue, 39 per cent in data and 40.4 per cent in mobile money during the period.

“We are also increasingly seeing the success of our strategy to lead in the roll-out of modernised 4G networks, with more than 40 per cent increase in data revenues for the quarter… our mobile money offer as well as increasing the distribution footprint have helped gain further acceptance of Airtel money,”  said Mr Raghunath Mandava, chief executive officer, Airtel Africa.

Also Read: Telkom dislodges Airtel with Kenya’s lowest call charges across networks

In the nine months ended December 2019, Airtel …

Airtel Africa and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) signed a partnership which will benefit Airtel Money and Ecobank customers.

Airtel Money and Ecobank customers will have access to mobile financial services and carry out a variety of mobile transactions.

The partnership is subject to regulatory approval in each market. Through the partnership, Airtel Money customers, through Ecobank’s digital financial services ecosystem will be able to make online deposits and withdrawals, make in-store merchant payments, effect real-time domestic and international money transfers and access loans and savings products.

Ecobank will be able to sponsor Airtel in issuing both virtual and physical debit cards as well as prepaid cards to customers.

In a statement, Ecobank said the partnership will give corporate account holders a go through when making bulk disbursements, such as payroll payments, directly into Airtel Money customer wallets. Through Ecobank, Airtel Money will now issue both virtual and physical debit and …