JUST IN: Airtel Loses Over N50.6bn After Disconnecting 10.1 Million Customers Without NIN

Airtel said it lost $110m or N50.6bn by the end of its financial year after disconnecting 10.1 million customers who do not have the mandatory National Identity Number (NIN).

The losses occurred between March 2022 to March 2023, the network provider said in its financial statement seen by THE WHISTLER.

The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami had directed the disconnection of all lines that are not linked to the NIN in 2020.

The deadline was first set for January 19, 2021, but was moved to February 9, April 6, May 6, June 30, July 26, October 31, December 31 and March 31, 2022.

But despite the loss, Airtel which operates in Nigeria, East Africa and Francophone Africa said its revenue grew 17.6 per cent to $5.2bn (N2.39trn) by March 2023 from the $4.71bn (N2.17trn) recorded in March 2022.

The growth was boosted by its Nigerian market which accounts for 40 per cent of its total revenue for the year.

Airtel said, “Nigeria’s revenue grew by 13.3 per cent to $2.128bn and 20.3 per cent in constant currency. Strong growth in both voice and data contributed to revenue growth, driven mainly by overall customer base growth of 9.0 per cent and data customer base growth of 17.3 per cent.

“Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) grew by 7.0 per cent, largely driven by higher data and other revenue. Q4’23 revenue growth at 18.7 per cent was lower compared to 23.1 per cent in Q3’23 mainly due to a shortage of cash in the country as a result of the demonetisation initiative, which impacted our cash recharges (50 per cent of total recharges are cash based).

“Voice revenue increased by 13.4 per cent in constant currency, largely driven by customer base growth of 9.0 per cent supported by voice ARPU growth of 0.9 per cent. The barring of outgoing calls for customers who had not submitted their NINs had an adverse impact on voice revenue.

“A total of 13.6 million customers were originally barred, out of which 6.4 million customers (47 per cent) have subsequently submitted their NINs and 3.5 million customers (26 per cent) have been fully verified and unbarred.

“We estimate that this resulted in the loss of approx. $110m of revenues in year ended 31 March 2023, providing a drag on revenue growth of 6 per cent in Nigeria.”

Airtels total voice revenue was $2.49bn (N1.14trn) out of which $1.053bn (N485.16bn) was raised from the Nigerian market.

Airtel data revenue rose to $1.78bn (N820.1bn) with the Nigerian market contributing $884m (N407.3m) out of the whole.

“Data revenue increased by 27.8 per cent in constant currency, driven by both data customer base growth of 17.3 per cent and data ARPU growth of 9.9 per cent. Over the last year, we have enhanced our 4G network with ample data network capacity to provide high-speed data to our customers with almost 100 per cent of our sites now on 4G and data capacity increase of 27.5 per cent.

“This has contributed to 4G data customer growth of 27.6 per cent. Data usage per customer increased by 24.8 per cent facilitating continued data ARPU growth. Data usage per customer reached 5 GB per customer per month from 4 GB per customer per month in the previous period. In Q4’23, 4G data usage per customer increased to 9.5 GB per month (up by 46.5 per cent) from 6.5 GB per customer per month in prior period. 4G data usage now contributes to 80.4 per cent of total data usage on our network,” it added.

However, Airtel’s profit from mall operations fell from $755m (N347.87bn) in March 2022 to $750m (N345.56bn) in March 2023.

“Profit after tax was $750m, down by 0.6 per cent, as growth in operating profit was offset by higher foreign exchange and derivative losses of $245m. Profit after tax excluding foreign exchange and derivative losses was up by 21.2 per cent,” it said.

The exchange rate is estimated at N460.75 per USD.