MTN Service Revenue Rises 17.2% in Nine Months as Nigeria Recovery Gathers Pace

The Johannesburg-based operator said in its quarterly update that third-quarter service revenue grew 16.6%. Earnings rose faster. Group EBITDA increased 22.9% to R86.0 billion over the nine months, and the EBITDA margin widened by 2.8 percentage points to 47.9%. "Q3 was our strongest quarter of 2026," chief executive Ralph Mupita said, adding that the group was "converting growth into cash and improved returns".

The figures show MTN's growth now comes mainly from West Africa while South Africa stands still. Nigeria's service revenue rose 19.7% in the third quarter, up from 13.2% in the second, and growth reached 21.6% in September. Nigerian EBITDA rose 32.8% in the quarter, and MTN said it expects the business to keep recovering through the rest of the year. Ghana grew faster still: service revenue rose 35.7% and EBITDA 42.1%.

In South Africa, service revenue was flat in the third quarter and up only 1.0% over the nine months. The company said data revenue there improved during the quarter. South African EBITDA rose 7.0%, with the margin up 3.6 percentage points to 38.1%. Rebuilding revenue growth in South Africa is one of the priorities MTN set for the rest of the year.

Fintech is the weak spot. MTN said total fintech revenue growth remains below its medium-term target range, mainly because of disruption to its Airtime Advance business in Nigeria. MTN Nigeria, which reported its own results last week, said its airtime and data credit service was suspended between April and June. Excluding Airtime Advance, Mobile Money revenue rose 18.5% over the nine months and 19.9% in the third quarter. Revenue from advanced fintech services rose 32.4%, and the value of transactions processed increased 36.9% to $512.5 billion.

The group had 323.0 million customers at the end of September, including 181.7 million active data subscribers and 70.3 million active Mobile Money users. Data traffic rose 27.3% to 22,754 petabytes.

MTN reported free cash flow of R22.4 billion, and its operating companies sent R21.4 billion up to the holding company. Net debt was 0.2 times EBITDA. The group has bought back R2.0 billion of shares under its R6.0 billion programme.

MTN also gave an update on its planned acquisition of IHS Holdings, the tower company. Shareholders have approved the deal, and so have authorities in Nigeria and the COMESA competition regulator. Other regulatory reviews are still under way, and MTN expects to complete the deal before the end of 2026.