Sylvia Mulinge, CEO of MTN Uganda.

MTN Uganda's home broadband adoption ballooned during the second quarter of the current financial year, contributing significantly to the telco's service revenue in the six months ended June.

The telco released its interim results, saying its home broadband plan worked well, with a 130% increase in active subscribers in a highly competitive market.

It said that in the quarter, it offered 4G and 5G speed-based fixed wireless packages to improve its proposition and increased fibre network by 54.2% year on year (YOY) to 12 102km.

During the six-month period, the telco's overall data income increased by 28.6%, attributed to a 26.8% surge in active data customers to 8.8 million.

“Our two-pronged strategy of deepening smartphone penetration through device financing and strategic partnerships with device manufacturers has yielded a 5.9pp growth to 41.6%. We have continued to improve our data value proposition, which has reduced churn and increased usage,” said Sylvia Mulinge, CEO of MTN Uganda.

“Our average subscriber data consumption (MB per active subscriber) improved by 19.9%, while total data traffic increased by 51.9%, with 4G traffic accounting for over two-thirds of total data volume. In Q2, our data revenue performance grew strongly, by 34.8% YOY, as our customers continue to enjoy faster throughputs and better connectivity as a result of the increased 4G LTE investment.”

Furthermore, MTN Uganda said the interim financial results showed a company experiencing strong growth and financial stability.

The company's service revenue increased 20.4% to $402 694 (Ush1.505.4 billion).

Mulinge said: "We're delivering on our commitment to accelerate Uganda's digital transformation." The growth was primarily fuelled by strong performances in both the data and fintech sectors, which grew by 28.6% and 23.5% respectively.

“The company's strategic investments in network infrastructure and customer value propositions have clearly paid off, leading to an expansion of its subscriber base and reduced churn. The positive trajectory is further underscored by a 29.7% increase in profit after tax, reaching $79 million (Ush295.7 billion). “

CFO Andrew John Bugembe noted: "Our solid execution and focus on efficiency are reflected in these results."

MTN Uganda's EBITDA margin also increased, hitting 51.5%, which the company attributed to its adept cost management initiatives.

Furthermore, MTN Uganda said it is improving its network infrastructure, as seen by an 8.6% rise in capital expenditure to $59 million (Ush219.1 billion).

According to the company, these investments focused mainly on expanding 4G and 5G coverage, which has increased data speeds and overall user experience.

MTN Uganda added that its efforts in the fintech field have shown results, including a considerable growth in mobile money transactions and the successful launch of new products and services.

In the period under review, fintech revenue reported a 23.5% YOY gain, citing the robust performance of its mobile money division, which rose by 25.7% (H1 23: 19.8%).

MTN Uganda pointed out that the strong revenue performance was driven by increased activity, with transaction volume up 25.2% to 2 billion and transaction value up 12.6% to Ush69.4 trillion.

Mulinge said: “The growth in transaction volume has been bolstered by higher merchant payments and P2P activity, while its advanced revenues continue to benefit from the success of the Wesotinge loan campaign, which has strengthened our Banktech revenue line. Advanced revenue contribution increased to 28.2% (H123: 26.3%). Our merchants increased by 43.1% to 382 000 and agents by 24.9% to 202 000.”

Looking ahead, MTN Uganda declared it is well-positioned to maintain its upward trajectory, which is driven by increasing demand for its services, continued network improvements and a focus on innovation and customer satisfaction.

Despite potential macroeconomic problems, MTN Uganda expressed confidence in its capacity to retain financial resilience and deliver value to its stakeholders.