MTN posts R176bn revenue as growth gathers pace

MTN Group reported a strong performance for the first nine months of 2026, as service revenue and earnings growth accelerated, margins expanded and cash generation remained robust. Africa's largest mobile network operator highlighted that group service revenue increased 17.2% to R176.2 billion, with Q3 service revenue growing 16.6%.

EBITDA rose 22.9% to R86 billion, with a 2.8 percentage point improvement in EBITDA margin to 47.9%. MTN CEO Ralph Mupita praised Q3 as the company's strongest quarter of the year, with service revenue growth re-accelerating and EBITDA continuing to grow faster than revenue.

The company noted resilient demand for data and connectivity services, sustained momentum in MTN Nigeria and Ghana, improving contributions from other markets like Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire, and disciplined execution across its portfolio. MTN South Africa reported its strongest earnings quarter of the year, with Q3 EBITDA increasing 7% and EBITDA margin expanding 3.6 percentage points to 38.1%. However, service revenue in South Africa remained flat, growing by just 1% in the first nine months.

Nigeria saw the strongest growth in the quarter, with service revenue up 19.7% and Q3 EBITDA up 32.8%, driven by stronger revenue growth and disciplined cost management. MTN Ghana also sustained strong growth, with service revenue increasing 35.7% and EBITDA by 42.1%. The telco attributed this to data, voice, digital services, and Mobile Money.

Fintech performance improved, with MoMo revenue growing 18.5% in the first nine months and advancing to 19.9% in Q3. Advanced services growth increased by 32.4%, while fintech transaction value rose to $512.5 billion.

As of September 30, 2026, MTN served 323 million customers, including 181.7 million active data subscribers and 70.3 million active Mobile Money users. Data traffic surged 27.3% to 22,754 petabytes. MTN maintained a strong balance sheet, generating significant free cash flow of R22.4 billion and upstreaming R21.4 billion to the group holding company.

The company also continued to execute its shareholder remuneration framework, buying back R2 billion of shares and progressing the proposed acquisition of IHS Holdings, which is expected to complete before the end of 2026. Looking ahead, MTN aims to sustain growth in major markets, rebuild topline momentum in South Africa, accelerate fintech towards medium-term targets, and complete the IHS transaction.