Recent results from major operators in Africa show continuing strong growth in revenue from data access services as well as from MFS.
MTN Group results for the first half of 2018 – which include MTN's operations in the Middle East as well as in Africa – show that data revenue was up 26.7% year on year on a constant currency basis, while digital revenue was up 7.6%, with the latter driven by the take-up of MTN's mobile money service. Data and digital services combined accounted for about 36% of MTN Group's service revenue in 1H18.
Notably, MTN said its voice revenue increased as well, by 6.2%, following improvements to its voice packages. Overall service revenue was up by 10.2% year on year. MTN said the improvement was led by its operations in Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa.
MTN CEO Rob Shuter speakeing at a press conference at AfricaCom 2018
Vodacom Group's data revenue for 2Q18 was up 9.6% year on year, and revenue from the M-Pesa mobile money service rose 18.1%. Vodacom Group's service revenue for 2Q18 was up by 4.2% year on year.
Orange's revenue from Africa and the Middle East in 2Q18 was up 5.2% year on year, with the increase driven by data and mobile money services. The Orange Money service had 38.7 million customers in the region at end-June 2017, up from 30 million a year earlier.
Bharti Airtel said that revenue from its Africa operations in the quarter to June 2018 increased by 13.9% year on year on a constant currency basis. Again, data and mobile money services were the leading growth areas.
Airtel said that the number of data customers on its networks in Africa in June 2018 was up by 45.2% compared to the previous year.
MTN sold its Cyprus unit in mid-2018 and is reported to be considering whether it should sell any other operations, particularly those in small or difficult markets.
However, MTN is also looking to move into some new territories. It is planning to launch an MVNO in Namibia and has said it is interested in growth opportunities in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian telecoms market is dominated by a state-owned monopoly operator, Ethio Telecom, but in June, the government said for the first time that it planned to allow local and foreign private investment in the sector. MTN has held a value-added services license in Ethiopia since 2013.
Millicom has withdrawn from several markets in Africa. During the first half of 2018, Millicom completed the sale of its operation in Senegal to local investors, and the sale of its unit in Rwanda to Airtel. In 2017, Millicom and Airtel merged their operations in Ghana. Millicom's remaining African operations are in Tanzania and Chad.
Mobile revenue in Africa will rise from $54.9bn in 2017 to $68bn in 2022, Ovum forecasts (see Figure 1). Non-SMS mobile data revenue – from mobile broadband access and mobile digital services – is expected to more than double over the forecast period, growing from $13.1bn in 2017 to $32.1bn in 2022.
