Revenues in its home market India were up 10 percent to INR 144.4 billion, including 10 percent growth in mobile services to INR 114.4 billion. Mobile EBITDA improved 27 percent to INR 39.7 billion, and Airtel boosted capex by 68 percent year-on-year to INR 13.5 billion as it expands its fibre network and prepares for the launch of LTE.
At its international operations in Africa and South Asia, revenues rose 4 percent to USD 1.2 billion, with growth held back by political instability in Bangladesh. EBITDA improved 2 percent to USD 306 million. The South Asia activities moved to a positive EBITDA of USD 5 million, and EBITDA in Africa was unchanged at USD 300 million on higher energy and site costs and after the company increased promotions and marketing spend, especially for mobile money services. Capex across the international activities rose just 3 percent, to USD 174 million.
Airtel increased its mobile customer base to 275.25 million at year-end, up 3 percent from the end of September and 10 percent more than end-2012. Mobile voice traffic was up 1 percent on a sequential basis, and non-voice services increased to 26.1 percent of revenues in Q4 from 25.0 percent in Q3. Airtel said its mobile internet revenues more than doubled year-on-year to INR 17.4 billion, accounting for around a third of its revenue growth in the quarter.
In India, the mobile data customer base was up 31.2 percent year-on-year to 54.4 million, of which just under 9.5 million were on the 3G network. Coupled with a 54.4 percent rise in usage per customer, total data traffic rose 97.0 percent. Mobile ARPU in India increased by 1 percent from the previous quarter and 5 percent year-on-year to INR 195. The operator added in total 5.057 million new mobile customers in India in the quarter, to finish with 198.513 million. Its recently launched Airtel Money service counted 1.3 million active users at year-end.
In Africa, customer growth slowed to 1.929 million net additions, for a total base of 68.307 million at year-end. Monthly churn increased slightly to 6.7 percent, and ARPU was up 1 percent from the previous quarter to USD 5.8. Non-voice services grew to 19.6 percent of revenues from 17.6 percent in the previous quarter, and the number of data customers was up 12 percent over the same period to 19.6 million. Data traffic rose 28 percent on a sequential basis and 120 percent year-on-year to 5.38 billion MB. Mobile money subscribers jumped by over 50 percent compared to September, to reach 2.73 million at year-end.
In south Asia, which includes Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the operator added just 84,000 customers in the quarter, to finish with a total 8.426 million. ARPU was down 3 percent from the previous quarter to USD 2.9 on a drop in voice traffic and prices. Data customers grew by 17 percent compared to three months earlier to 2.77 million, and data traffic was also up 17 percent, to 1.5 billion MB. The 3G network more than doubled compared to September to over 1,600 sites, out of a total 6,633 at the end of December. This followed the launch of 3G in Bangladesh late last year, where Airtel said it had over 800 active sites and 75,000 3G customers.
