MTN Gained 100,000 Subscribers, Generated Revenue of N854.9 Billion According to Industry Stats for 2019

MTN Nigeria has announced that it generated N854.9 billion in revenue over the last nine months. The telecommunications operator released this figure from its unaudited results for a duration of nine months that ended September 30, 2019.

This new revenue numbers compared to what it generated within the same period in 2018, shows that MTN Nigeria recorded a growth of 12.1%.

Following a directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission, the telco operator recently conducted a re-registration of sim cards for its subscribers. According to MTN, the exercise led to a loss of 576,000 subscribers from its base, which had a negative impact on its growth margin.

In spite of that loss, MTN still managed to increase its subscriber base by 0.1%. Currently, the number of MTN subscribers is 61.6 million.

Among its subscribers, MTN saw an increase in the number of its active data users from 20.7 million to 22.3 million users.

“We recorded 1,6 million more QoQ active data users, closing the quarter with 22,3 million users. The acceleration in data traffic was assisted by the access to additional 800MHz spectrum, granted in April 2019, as well as the ramp-up in our 4G footprint, increasing our population coverage to over 35% at September 2019, from 28,6% at June 2019. This supported growth in the number of 4G devices and subscribers on our network.”

MTN Nigeria

A 12.1% increase was also seen in service revenue which brought the amount in revenue to N854.9 billion.

“We continued to focus on maintaining our commercial momentum in Nigeria, recording data revenue growth of 35,3% YoY in the nine months to September 2019, which was driven by a 75,1% increase in data traffic over the same period; an acceleration from the 67% traffic growth in the six months to June 2019,” 

MTN Nigeria

MTN’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 39.3% to N460.1 billion (IAS 17: 15.8% to N382.5 billion).

The EBITDA margin increased by 10.5 pp to 53.7% (IAS 17: 44.7%, up 1.5pp); Earnings per share rose by 29% to N7.29k (IAS 17: 36.6% to N7.72k); and Capex increased by 39.5% to N154.1 billion (IAS 17: 20.9% to N133.5 billion).

On its fintech operations over the period, MTN revealed that it had increased the number of its mobile money agents to 66,282 and planned to level it up to 100,000 by the end of the year.

Despite its recent troubles, the report shows that MTN is increasing its reach and continues to establish itself as the people’s choice.