MTN Nigeria’s service revenue rose 19.7% year on year to ₦1.61 trillion in the third quarter of 2026, and its earnings margin widened, according to the company’s earnings release dated 30 October 2026. For the nine months to 30 September, service revenue grew 23.7% to ₦4.6 trillion and profit after tax rose 55.3% to ₦1.2 trillion. The release says guidance is reaffirmed, but fintech revenue is still down.
What it means for your business
If you sell into Nigeria, invest in it, or hold exposure through MTN Group, this release is a read on the Nigerian consumer and on the naira. Demand for data is strong, the company reports a stronger naira, and it flags energy costs, inflation, exchange rates and customer affordability as the things it is watching. Telecom costs and mobile-money services are moving quickly there, so reassess your assumptions for Nigerian staff, customers and payments rather than relying on last year’s.
The quarter in numbers
All figures are from MTN Nigeria’s release unless stated, and growth is year on year.
- Service revenue for Q3 grew 19.7%, or 8.4% on the second quarter, with growth accelerating each month to 21.6% in September, the release says. TechCentral reported on 2 November that growth was 13.2% in the second quarter, which it described as a slump.
- Q3 EBITDA, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, rose 32.8% to ₦951 billion, and the margin widened 5.8 percentage points to 58.7%. For nine months, EBITDA rose 36.8% to ₦2.6 trillion at a 56.9% margin.
- Q3 profit after tax was ₦457.6 billion, up 36.5%. Nine-month earnings per share rose 55.3% to ₦55.60.
- Subscribers rose 10.9% to 94.7 million and active data users 12.0% to 57.2 million. The company says subscribers exclude non-revenue-generating customers.
Where the growth came from
Data revenue rose 35.8% over nine months, and 31.4% in Q3 to ₦981.4 billion. Average monthly usage per active data user was 17.2GB in Q3, compared with 15.3GB across the nine months. Voice revenue grew 11.1% over nine months and 9.3% in Q3 to ₦503.3 billion, which the company attributes to more subscribers offsetting softer usage per subscriber as customers move to data.
Digital revenue grew 24.0% and accelerated to 30.6% in Q3, led by rich media and mobile advertising. Enterprise revenue rose 6.5%, led by bulk SMS, fixed connectivity and converged services. Home broadband is becoming more important: fibre to the home carries about 13% of data traffic, and smartphone penetration is 66.0%.
Fintech is the weak spot
Overall fintech revenue fell 25.9% over nine months. The company links the decline to the suspension of its airtime and data credit service between April and June, which resumed under a new multi-partner model. Q3 revenue from that service was up 78.5% on the second quarter, and MTN expects it to be back at expected levels by the end of November 2026.
Core mobile money revenue more than doubled, up 102.2%, driven mainly by float income as wallet balances more than quadrupled to ₦43.8 billion from December 2025. In August the MoMo payment service bank moved to a new Alipay+ platform. Monthly active users were 3.2 million at the end of September, now measured on the new platform only, with Q3 transaction volumes up 69.1% on the second quarter. The structural separation of the fintech business is progressing, subject to regulatory approvals.
Costs, the naira and cash
Operating expenses rose 8.5%, which the company says was well below revenue growth and inflation, helped by a stronger naira of ₦1 329 to the dollar at the end of September 2026 against ₦1 475 a year earlier and by VAT input claims. Higher diesel-linked tower costs weighed in Q3. Net finance costs fell 25.3% to ₦277.0 billion, and a net foreign exchange gain of ₦80.1 billion compared with ₦55.6 billion a year earlier.
Free cash flow rose 57.5% to ₦1.2 trillion. Capital expenditure excluding leases rose 14.2% to ₦864.8 billion, an intensity of 18.7%, with Q3 investment up 69.1% as the 2026 network rollout stepped up. After paying ₦860.8 billion in dividends, MTN Nigeria closed with a net cash position of ₦47.7 billion, down from ₦104.8 billion in December 2025. It says its borrowings are fully naira-denominated and at fixed rates.
Guidance and what to watch
Medium-term guidance is average service revenue growth of at least low-20%, and an EBITDA margin in the mid-to-high-50% range. CEO Karl Toriola said in the release that the third quarter reversed the temporary slowdown in the second. Management hosts an analyst call on 2 November. Watch the fintech recovery, regulatory approval for the separation, and energy costs, which the company says remain an important consideration.
For South African readers following the sector at home, our coverage includes Vodacom’s talk of a 3G switch-off and its Safaricom gain. Full financial statements are on MTN Nigeria’s investor page.
