According to the results for the fiscal year that concluded on March 31, 2023, the group bought Spectrum in Tanzania, Zambia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, and the DRC says Airtel.
The chief executive of Airtel Africa, Mr. Olusegun Ogunsanya, commented on the spectrum investment: “Over the year, we invested $500m on additional spectrum, including 5G, across many of our OpCos, which, combined with our capex, will underpin our growth ambitions.”
He said that, despite this investment, and driven by a disciplined capital allocation policy, Airtel’s balance sheet remains strong and has been further de-risked over the last year by the prepayment of $450m HoldCo debt in July last year.
“Currencies across our footprint have been under pressure, and the impact from the revaluation of our foreign currency-denominated liabilities provided some headwinds in the last financial year.
“While currency devaluation is not in our control, we have plans to continue to mitigate its impact by growing our revenues at a faster pace than devaluation, with double-digit revenue growth in reported currency delivered this year and as we continue to reduce our foreign currency exposure across our balance sheet.
Ogunsanya added that Airtel Africa’s six-pillar strategy continues to provide the basis for stakeholder value creation by facilitating the continued expansion of its services to enhance both digital and financial inclusion across Africa. “This strategy will continue and will be underpinned by our sustainability strategy as articulated in our Sustainability Report published in October 2022”, he said.
It was reported on December 7, 2023, in an announcement by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that by the close of business on Monday, December 5, 2022, only two companies expressed interest in the auction of the 3.5GHz Spectrum band
Airtel was later declared the winner of the auction.
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