Airtel to Strengthen its LTE Network with $70 million Worth 10 MHz

Telecommunications Giant, Airtel Africa Plc has announced that it will acquire an added 10 MHz spectrum in the 900 MHZ band in Nigeria.

The move is expected to expand and reposition Airtel’s LTE network across the country,

Speaking on the development, CEO of Airtel Africa Raghunath Mandava, clarified that data and the decision for expansion of its services across Nigeria were the reasons for the growth of the company.

“Data is a key pillar of our growth strategy, driven by increasing 4G networks and supported by the increased affordability and increasing penetration of smartphones. With an overall smartphone penetration of more than 35% and data consumption growing by 92% in the six months’ period ended 30 September 2019, Nigeria presents a significant growth opportunity in data.

“The acquisition of this spectrum will enable us to further deliver on this growth opportunity and continue to offer our Nigerian customers enhanced user experience,” Mandava said.

In a notice sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and the investing public, Airtel Africa announced that an agreement was reached between Airtel Nigeria and Intercellular Nigeria Limited for a consideration fee of $70 million.

The fee is excluding the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) fees as stipulated under the NCC Spectrum Trading Guidelines while the acquisition is still subject to the approval of the regulatory agency.

Airtel Africa recently released its half-year 2019 financial statements which showed impressive performance by the company.

Airtel’s revenue grew by 8.4% to N503.3 billion, up from N464.4 billion during the comparable period in 2018. Meanwhile, the company’s expenses increased by 5.7% to N285.7 billion in H1 2019, up from N270.4 billion in H1 2018.

The company recorded a 158.4% increase in its profit before tax which stood at N96.9 billion in H1 2019 compared to N37.4 billion in H1 2018.

Airtel Africa’s profit after tax stood at N69.9 billion, indicating an 11.9% increase compared to N62.6 billion reported in H1 2018.

Airtel Nigeria witnessed additional internet subscribers on a month-on-month basis, according to the monthly industry statistics released by the NCC for September 2019. Airtel added 444,598 internet subscribers, as the telco’s total internet subscribers rose to 33.1 million last month.

Internet users reached 111.6 million in December – NCC