Nigeria and Ghana are the star performers among the group’s opcos, along with a surge in data traffic and financial transactions, but growth in South Africa slowed
South Africa’s MTN group announced its service revenue for the nine months to September rose by 25.9%, driven by strong performances in Nigeria and Ghana. MTN is Africa’s biggest telecom operator with operations in 16 markets. During the first nine months, its customer base has expanded by 5% to 301 million.
If the effect of currency fluctuations are removed from the equation, the group’s service revenue rose by 22.6%.
MTN Nigeria saw a rise of 57.1% in service revenue over the first nine months of the year, while MTN Ghana rose 35.9%, helped by lower inflation and more stable exchange rates.
MTN South Africa saw slower grow of 2%: gains from post-paid and enterprise were negated by ongoing pressure in a fiercely competitive prepaid market.
Data and fintech
The group’s data revenue increased by 40%, due to the rising number of active data subscribers and strong demand. Fintech’s revenue rose 35.7%.
MTN said 27.9 billion rand (€1.04 billion) its investment to expand its commercial business had been a major contributory factor in the growth of data traffic and the volume of fintech transactions.
MTN plans to expand its AI-powered digital inclusion initiative with Microsoft across Africa in early 2026.
