The African arm of India’s Bharti Airtel, led by Nigeria, appeared to be on the upward swing, as the region reported a profit of $76 million in the first nine months of 2017, compared with a loss of $93 million same periods a year ago.
What led to improved performance
These earnings were boosted by a surge in data traffic and Airtel Money transactions, as Airtel Africa had reported a $48 million profit in July-September, making it a 5.3 per cent growth year-on-year to $783 million.
Bharti Airtel in its third quarter (Q3) 2017 report, according to ET Telecoms, showed that it had over 394.2 million customers in India, South Asia, and Africa at the end of December, across its mobile, enterprise, home broadband, and Data To Home businesses.
Amidst exit rumors which the company has consistently denied “but eyeing strategic acquisition” on the Continent, was at the weekend, reported to have pulled out of the race for the acquisition of embattled 9Mobile.
The Nigerian arm is the third largest telecommunications firm in the country with over 35 million customers, which is 25.3 percent market share.
Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian global telecommunications services company based in New Delhi India. It operates in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. Airtel provides GSM, 3G, and 4G LTE mobile services, fixed line broadband and voice services depending upon the country of operation.
