LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Telecommunications provider Airtel Africa posted a jump in first-half profit and revenue on Thursday, with "strong" performances across its regional segments and key services.

In the half year to 30 September, pre-tax profit rose to $567m from $281m in the same period a year ago, while reported revenues were up 25.2% to $2.27bn, with double-digit growth across all regions.

Revenues in Nigeria were up 32.4%, while East Africa and Francophone Africa saw increases of 25.8% and 22.1%, respectively. Revenues in the voice segment rose 19.7%, while the data and mobile money businesses saw growth of 36.9% and 42%, respectively.

Airtel said its customer base rose by 5.4% to 122.7m, with increased penetration across mobile data and mobile money services.

Chief executive officer Segun Ogunsanya said: "Our first half financial performance has been strong. The first half of last year, and especially Q1, was impacted by the start of Covid, but even after adjusting for these effects, our revenue growth rates for the half year for the group and all our service segments are ahead of our FY'21 revenue growth trends, and in reported terms these are all in strong double digits.

"The risks from Covid still remain, with sub-Saharan Africa continuing to experience a third wave of the pandemic. Governments continue to implement balanced measures of lockdowns and restrictions accordingly. But vaccination levels remain low, and we continue to monitor the situation for potential impacts on economies and consumers."

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