MTN Group is elevating its approach to serving its 307.2 million users using its Ambition 2030 strategic plan. It outlines the telco’s roadmap for the next five years (2026-2030) and how the leading African telecom operator plans to scale platforms for consumers, homes, and businesses.
Over the years, the telco has sought an ecosystem where Africans will use the internet and be financially included on the same devices. Yet, it recognises the need to overcome the barriers that are preventing the ecosystem from attaining the desired level of inclusivity.
Africa’s internet user base is expanding rapidly, with subscribers nearing 800 million users, driven by increased mobile adoption, rising data traffic, and digital transformation initiatives. By 2029, the continent’s subscriber base is expected to reach as much as 1.1 billion.
To mitigate the growing cost of service delivery, MTN has positioned its digital and financial services to grow along its infrastructural expansion. The focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also driving the technology ecosystem.
However, there’ll be no present without the past, and no future forecast without the present. MTN’s Ambition 2030 is built on its Ambition 2025. Below is a brief explication of it:
A brief look at Ambition 2025
Ambition 2025 (2020 – 2025) was MTN’s anchor mark for leading Africa’s digital solution and strategy through data centres, infrastructure, fintech and quality-driven network. Its key pillars were Fintech, Digital Services, Enterprise Services, Network as a Service (NaaS), and an API marketplace (Chenosis).
Some achievements of Ambition 2025 include
- Reaching 307.2 million subscribers from 279.6 million in 2020
- Active data subscribers surged from 114.3 million to 172.6 million.
- Fintech monthly active users (MAU) increased from 46.4 million to 69.5 million.
- Reputation score index increased from 71.0 to 80.1.
- Sales of company assets amounted to $1.38 (R22.6 billion).
Also Read: MTN spent $1.2b with black-owned suppliers in 2025 to meet SA local laws target.
Ambition 2030
MTN’s 5-year strategic framework is still based on delivering digital solutions for Africa’s progress. And these initiatives form the pillar of leading AI growth, customer experience and shared value.
The telco described Ambition 2030 as one MTN, three platforms, where it’s doubling down on Connectivity, Fintech and Digital Infrastructure.
During the recent Yellow Chair interview, Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita noted that the three pillars are the best way the company is thinking about the next three to five years.
“We can invest in these businesses discreetly. The core connectivity will have this capital allocated, will allocate to fintech, will allocate to digital infrastructure,” he said.
On Connectivity
Connectivity serves as the telco’s foundational pillar of Ambition and the primary driver of its digital inclusion. With connectivity, MTN wants to ignore growth through access to a quality internet experience and digital services
Mupita said the company is positioning to cater to the expected growing internet usage, as home usage of data is expected to rise, driven by remote work and online study.
“So we need to arrange ourselves and various technologies that are technology agnostic about how to win the home, through fixed wireless access, fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), and other types of technologies,” he added.
MTN FibreX is already on that fine run in Nigeria, with the service now at a subscriber base of 110,564, following a 24% increase in February 2026. It also currently holds an 88.7% share of Nigeria’s Fixed (Wired) subscribers, a testament to how MTN is bringing the internet to meet consumers.
On Fintech
This pillar plainly builds on the existing footprints but only seeks to extend the plan to medium and long-term growth. MTN said it wants to keep executing the existing strategy, expand the ecosystem and grow more users across its 16 African markets.
In 2025, fintech recorded a 23.2% year-on-year increase in revenue to R30.3 billion, contributing 12.7% to the group’s revenue. Also, Fintech transaction volume increased 14.9% YoY to 23.3 billion, while transaction value surged 37.6% to $500.3 billion.
Speaking on Fintech, Mupita noted that the telco wants to “expand the ecosystem, grow more users, develop more advanced services, and take them to customers in a more amplified way.”
The strategy also includes deepening financial inclusion and reaching more people in the adoption of digital payments. The plan involves tools such as lending, insurance, payments and remittances.
On Digital Infrastructure
While consumers and businesses now demand more data and quality owing to an exponential digital workload, facilities must be capacity-ready and efficient to cater to subscribers’ needs.
Aside from customers’ taste and increasing needs, the subscriber base keeps growing, meaning infrastructure needs to be expanded. MTN, under this pillar, is approaching the future by advancing its fibre network, expanding AI-enabled data centres and unlocking tower value.
The group aims to deploy more fibre railroads, build data centres through partnerships, and recall its towers by acquiring IHS Towers and grow the number.
The pillars form the group’s strategy for the next five years and how it plans to scale its product sustainably to meet the rising transformation of society and the telecoms industry. Across its 16 markets, MTN wants to make a statement. The extent and possibility of that trajectory depends on its ability to implement its objectives to meet subscribers’ needs.
MTN noted that more details about the Ambition 2030 strategy and capital allocation priorities will be announced at its Capital Markets Day (CMD) planned for or around 10 June 2026.
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