MTN Group has announced that its service revenue jumped 9.9% year on year to $10.7 billion (R176.2 billion) during the first nine months of 2026, attributed to third-quarter growth momentum in its Nigerian and Ghanaian markets.
According to the first nine months ended September 30, 2026 earnings result filed on Monday, MTN Group noted that the financial performance was supported by data consumption, momentum restoration in Nigeria, and sustained strength in its Ghanaian operations.
The leading telecoms operator saw its overall subscriber base expand by 7.2% to reach 322.9 million customers across its African markets, showing the continued expansion and distribution of its network amid competition across various African markets in which it operates.
Also read: MTN secures key approvals for IHS deal, faces regional clearance test.
Data revenue served as the leading growth driver for the group, with a 20.9% surge in reported currency to reach $5.4 billion (R88.9 billion). With this, data services now account for 50.4% of the group’s service revenue, while active data subscribers surged 9.6% to 181.7 million.
In addition, data revenue’s push of total revenue is further fueled by a 27.3% increase in total data traffic to 22,754 petabytes and smartphone penetration reaching 66.4% across the subscriber base.
With increased strength in data revenue, voice revenue decreased by 3.1% to $2.8 billion (R46.0 billion) on a reported basis, but up 3.4% on a constant-currency basis. The drop signals the continued shift from voice calls using airtime to calls on social media platforms using data.
Group Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) expanded by 22.9% in constant currency, lifting the overall EBITDA margin by 2.8 percentage points to 47.9%.
“Demand across the Group remained robust. Customer numbers increased by 7.2% to 322.9 million, and data revenue grew by 28.2%: it now accounts for 50.4% of service revenue,” Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita said in the report.
He added that the “EBITDA growth outpaced service revenue growth, reflecting operating leverage and our expense efficiency programme, which absorbed higher energy costs.”
Q3 revenue from MTN Nigeria and Ghana fueled growth
Regional highlights show that MTN Nigeria led data growth with a 31.4% increase in data revenue for Q3 2026, as active data users rose to 57.2 million.
MTN Ghana registered a 39.9% jump in data revenue over the same quarter, while voice revenue decreased by 3.1% in reported currency to R46.0 billion, though it recorded a 3.4% uptick in constant currency as voice usage continues to migrate toward data and over-the-top channels.
The performance signals a strong operational turnaround for MTN Nigeria in Q3, where service revenue grew by 19.7% during the quarter, which improved each month to hit 21.6% in September 2026.
MTN Ghana also maintained sustained growth as service revenue jumped 33.5% and secured 5G and mobile broadband spectrum under 15-year licenses valued at $202 million.
In South Africa, Q3 marked the strongest earnings quarter of the year, with EBITDA up 7.0% and its margins expanding to 38.1%. The positive performance was attributed to structural cost intervention, despite service revenue increasing by 1% in 9M 2026 and falling flat in Q3, with prepaid trends continuing to recover.
Fintech
MTN’s fintech division, with its continued move to a standalone section, expands its growth frontier as Mobile Money (MoMo) monthly active users grew by 9.3% to 70.3 million.
Total fintech transaction volumes surged 20.1% to 20.3 billion transactions, driving overall transaction value up 36.9% in constant currency to $512.5 billion. Also, overall fintech revenue grew by 12.7% to $1.37 billion (R22.6 billion). This was below medium-term targets due to the temporary suspension of airtime and data lending services in Nigeria during Q2 2026, lower interest rates on float balances in Ghana, and election-related disruptions in Uganda.
Removing airtime advance, core MoMo revenue advanced by 18.5% over the nine months. MTN Nigeria expects airtime lending services, under its new multi-partner model, to fully recover to pre-suspension levels by the end of the year.
Also read: MTN earns 58% more per subscriber in Ghana than Nigeria.
Investment
MTN Group said it invested $1.75 billion (R28.8 billion) in capital expenditure excluding leases, representing a capex intensity of 15.9%, focused on network coverage and infrastructure expansions across Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, and Ghana.
Free cash flow surged to R22.4 billion compared to R11.9 billion recorded in 9M 2025, while upstreamed cash back to the group reached R21.4 billion.
MTN reportedly implemented a share buyback program, repurchasing $121.4 million (R2.0 billion) worth of shares during Q3 2026 and successfully settled its $500 million Eurobond upon maturity on October 13, 2026.
In its Q4 forecast, Ralph Mupita noted that MTN remains focused on sustaining momentum across key markets such as Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, and aims to restore fintech growth through airtime and data lending.
“For the rest of the year, we will focus on sustaining the commercial momentum across our markets,” he said, adding that “all the while, we will focus on maintaining cost and capital discipline and delivering FCF growth and improving returns.”
MTN also aims to address operational bottlenecks in Uganda and finalise the pending $2.2 billion IHS Holdings acquisition that will see the group control the infrastructure that powers its connectivity.
Technext Newsletter
Get the best of Africa’s daily tech to your inbox – first thing every morning.
Join the community now!
