MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile operator, has delivered another set of powerful results, posting strong nine-month performance to September 2025 on the back of surging revenues in Nigeria, Ghana and its wider African footprint.
The group’s momentum has been further strengthened by MTN Nigeria’s return to positive retained income and the revival of dividend payments.
Group CEO and president Ralph Mupita lauded MTN Nigeria, the Group’s biggest market, for restoring its retained earnings and net equity position, which enabled it to declare an interim dividend for the period.
“The Group delivered a strong performance supported by improved macroeconomic conditions, stronger currencies and the continued execution of our commercial strategy. We are particularly pleased that MTN Nigeria returned to positive retained income and resumed dividend payments,” he said.
The Nigeria market remained the Group’s star performer, with service revenue surging 67.4% in Q3 and 46.9% year-to-date, with data revenues up 72.7%, and fintech revenues increasing by 72.3%. Active data users also grew to 51.1 million, supported by expanding 4G and 5G capacity and higher smartphone penetration.
However, Ghana delivered even stronger numbers, with service revenue rocketing 74.4% in Q3 and nearly doubling year-to-date to R30.25 billion, driven by significant demand for data and booming digital services that increased by 106.1%, compared to the previous period. According to the MTN Group results, the Ghana cedi’s improved stability also supported the impressive performance.
Uganda also added to the positive momentum, with service revenue up 18.3%, driven by a 30.2% jump in data revenue and a resilient MoMo (mobile money) business.
Across MTN’s 19 markets, data and fintech remained the main engines of growth with data revenues recording a 40.3% upswing, with traffic up 26.6%. Furthermore, active data customers grew 9.1% to 165.8 million, while fintech revenue surged 35.7% on the back of a 38% rise in transaction values and an increase in MoMo users to 64.3 million.
Despite global declines in voice usage, it remained surprisingly resilient for the Group, growing 10%.
The Group’s total service revenue grew 31.4% in Q3, taking year-to-date revenue to R160.38 billion, up 25.9% from 2024. EBITDA increased 58.4% in the quarter, with margins expanding to 43.8%.
MTN South Africa remained the laggard, with service revenue growing just 2% and EBITDA declining 4.6%, weighed down by a fiercely competitive prepaid market.
In the quarter, MTN also surpassed 300 million subscribers for the first time, growing its customer base by 5.8% to 301.3 million.
“We are excited to continue connecting Africa and driving digital and financial inclusion at scale,” Mupita said.
He stressed that with Nigeria back to declaring dividends, fintech expanding rapidly, and AI partnerships like the new Microsoft collaboration set to launch in 2026, MTN is entering a new era of growth.
“We remain energised by our year-to-date performance and committed to unlocking value for Africa,” said Mupita.
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