{
  "id": 17693877,
  "title": "MTN Ghana pays GH¢9bn to state, earns GH¢7.8bn profit in first 9 months of 2026",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/01/mtn-ghana-pays-gh-9bn-to-state-earns-gh-7-8bn-profit-in-first-9-17693877",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-11-01T22:09:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/mtn-ghana-pays-gh%c2%a29bn-to-state-earns-gh%c2%a27-8bn-profit-in-first-9-months-of-2026/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the first nine months of 2026, Ghanaian telecommunications giant MTN Ghana paid GH¢9 billion in various taxes, resulting in a profit after tax of GH¢7.8 billion. This marks a significant increase from the previous year's tax payments of GH¢7.3 billion, demonstrating the company's substantial contribution to the nation's revenue. The company's tax burden, however, did not overshadow its strong financial performance, as profit after tax rose 43.0% year-on-year. The impressive growth in service revenue, which increased by 33.5% to GH¢23.2 billion, was driven primarily by data services, which surged 44.5% to GH¢13.5 billion, supported by a 16.1% rise in active subscribers. Digital services experienced an even more remarkable 98.0% increase, reaching GH¢642 million. Mobile Money revenue also grew by 24.4% to GH¢5.4 billion. MTN Ghana's Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 40.6% to GH¢14.3 billion, and the EBITDA margin expanded by 3.1 percentage points to 61.5%. The company's earnings per share also rose 42.9% to GH¢0.586. Despite the heavy tax burden and substantial capital expenditure of GH¢3.2 billion, MTN Ghana's CEO Stephen Blewett attributed the strong performance to the company's resilient and diversified growth engines, including its recent acquisition of 5G spectrum in the US$202 million. The company declared a third-quarter dividend of GH¢0.03 per share, with MobileMoney Fintech LTD following suit.",
  "summary": "MTN Ghana paid GH¢9.0 billion in direct and indirect taxes to the state in the first nine months of 2026, a figure that surpasses the telecommunications giant’s profit after tax of GH¢7.8 billion for the same period, according to the company’s latest unaudited financial statements.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}