MTN Ghana nine-month profit jumps 43% to US$666m
MTN Ghana’s profit after tax rose by 43% to about US$666 million (GHS7.8 billion) in the nine months to September 2026, on rising demand for mobile data, digital services and mobile money.
The operator, which trades as Scancom PLC, grew service revenue by 33.5% to about US$1.98 billion (GHS23.2 billion). EBITDA rose 40.6% to about US$1.22 billion (GHS14.3 billion), and the EBITDA margin widened by 3.1 percentage points to 61.5%.
Third-quarter service revenue alone grew by 35.7% year-on-year to about US$700 million (GHS8.2 billion).
“We delivered another strong quarter in Q3 2026, with broad-based growth across our connectivity and fintech businesses,” said Stephen Blewett, CEO of MTN Ghana.
Data was the biggest revenue driver, rising by 44.5% to about US$1.15 billion (GHS13.5 billion). It accounted for 58.1% of service revenue, up from 53.6% a year earlier. Average monthly data usage per active customer rose 36.8% to 19.8GB.
Mobile money revenue grew by 24.4% to about US$461 million (GHS5.4 billion). Digital services nearly doubled, up 98% to about US$55 million (GHS642 million), and voice revenue rose 7.6% to about US$265 million (GHS3.1 billion).
“Digital revenue grew by 98.1% YoY in Q3, reflecting continued customer adoption of gaming, video and content services, while mobile money revenue increased by 26.5% YoY, supported by continued expansion across core wallet and advanced financial services and increasing digital payment adoption,” Blewett said.
Mobile subscribers grew by 12.7% to 34.3 million, active data subscribers by 16.1% to 22 million, and active mobile money users by 6.9% to 18.9 million. The company added about 1.5 million mobile subscribers in the third quarter, almost double the 800,000 it added in the second.
Total costs rose by 23.2% to about US$760 million (GHS8.9 billion), driven by spending on network operations, rent, utilities and maintenance. Capital expenditure fell by 27.2% to about US$273 million (GHS3.2 billion).
MTN Ghana contributed about US$769 million (GHS9 billion) in direct and indirect taxes, up from GHS7.3 billion a year earlier.
5G spectrum boost
MTN Ghana is preparing to expand its 5G and home broadband services after the National Communications Authority (NCA) awarded it 2x20MHz in the 700MHz band and 1x150MHz in the 3GHz band. The licences will run for 15 years.
The spectrum will cost US$202 million. The company said this is already factored into its free cash flow outlook and will not affect its full-year 2026 free cash flow or dividend expectations.
The boards of Scancom PLC and MobileMoney Fintech Limited (MMFL) each declared a third-quarter dividend of GHS0.03 per share, payable on 10 December.
For the full year, MTN Ghana expects service revenue growth in the low-to-mid 30% range, with EBITDA margins between the high 50s and low 60s. It expects margins to ease towards the mid-to-high 50s over the medium term as it steps up investment in network coverage, quality and 5G.
The results come against a mixed economic backdrop. Average inflation in Ghana fell to 4.2% in the first nine months of 2026, from 17.3% a year earlier. However, the cedi weakened by 12.1% against the US dollar, from GHS10.45 to GHS11.71.
MTN Ghana separated its fintech operations into MMFL on 31 March 2026, in line with the country’s Payment Systems and Services Act. The nine-month figures are presented on a combined basis for Scancom and MMFL, and are not consolidated financial statements.
“Q3 further strengthened our nine-month performance, demonstrating the resilience and diversification of our growth engines,” Blewett said.
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