Airtel Africa narrows loss to $52mn,crosses 50mn customer mark

Total revenue rose by USD 1,057 million during October-December quarter,against USD 911 million in the same period last fiscal.

“We have reported good progress in all the countries we operate. Data services we have already launched in five countries we will be launching in another six countries very soon and airtel money is most exciting product for Airtel Africa. We have already launched in six countries and going to launch in another eight countries in next 6 to 8 weeks,” Kohli said.

Africa reported positive operating cash flow for the first time in Q3 at USD 17 million.

On the capex front,Kohli said,”We are on the peak now in Africa. Our capex can’t go up it can only come down. This quarter we have had a free operating cash,which is good news because we have started to have our own cash after investing our money in Africa.”

During the quarter ended December 31,2011,the company incurred a capital expenditure of USD 265 million on its African operation.

The company provides services in Congo,Gabon,Madagascar,Niger,Ghana,Kenya,Malawi,Seychelles,Sierra Leone,Tanzania,Uganda and Zambia. This makes Airtel’s footprint across Africa,the widest amongst all telecommunications service providers in the continent.

The company offers post-paid,pre-paid,roaming,Internet,m-commerce,content,media,entertainment and other value added services.

By the end of December 31,2011 the company has a total employees of 4,773 at its African operations.

During the quarter,the company added 2.5 million customers. The ARPU for the quarter was USD 7.1 per month. The blended monthly usage per customer,during the quarter was at 125 minutes.

The company is planning to roll-out its services in Rawanda in next few weeks and the company has bid for 2G and 3G spectrum in Cameroon.

On the Econet matter,Kholi said that Bharti Airtel has filed an appeal against a court judgement in Nigeria to reinstate 5 per cent holding of the UK-based Econet Wireless (EWL) in Bharti Airtel Nigeria.

Econet had approached court against 2006 deal in which Celtel International bought 65 per cent stake in Nigerian mobile operator Vmobile,which is now owned by Bharti Airtel.

Vmobile was acquired by Kuwait’s biggest mobile-phone operator Zain which was in turn acquired by Bharti Airtel in 2010.