MTN Group grows earnings faster than revenue as Nigeria and Ghana strengthen performance

MTN Group has grown its core earnings faster than its sales over the first first nine months of 2026, with operations in Nigeria and Ghana doing most of the heavy lifting. EBITDA climbed 22.9% to R86.0 billion, while service revenue rose 17.2% to R176.2 billion in constant currency terms.

The gap shows up in the margin. MTN’s EBITDA margin widened by 2.8 percentage points to 47.9%, which the company links to better operating leverage and tighter cost control. Growth also picked up speed as the year went on. Service revenue growth gained momentum from May and reached 18.1% in September. For the third quarter alone, service revenue rose 16.6% and EBITDA rose 20.1%.

Speaking, MTN Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, called it the Group’s best stretch of the year. “Q3 was our strongest quarter of 2026 and it demonstrated the resilience and quality of the MTN portfolio. Service revenue growth re-accelerated through the quarter, while EBITDA continued to grow faster than revenue. We remain focused on sustaining commercial momentum, expanding margins and converting growth into cash and improved returns.”

The telecom giant credits steady demand for data and connectivity, along with strong showings in Nigeria and Ghana and a bigger contribution from Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire.

In Nigeria, the third quarter service revenue grew to 19.7%, up from 13.2% in the previous quarter and the pace reached 21.6% by September. EBITDA there jumped 32.8% on the back of the stronger revenue and cost discipline. The return of Airtime Advance helped the turnaround, and MTN expects the recovery to carry on through the rest of the year.

Ghana did even better. Service revenue there rose 35.7% in the quarter and EBITDA rose 42.1%, with data, voice, digital services and Mobile Money all pulling their weight.

South Africa told a different story. MTN’s home market had its best earnings quarter of the year, with EBITDA up 7.0% and the margin widening 3.6 percentage points to 38.1%, helped by early results from cost restructuring. Revenue, however, barely moved. Service revenue was flat in the quarter and up just 1.0% over nine months. The company pointed to pressure on prepaid consumer voice, lower mobile termination rates, and its deliberate move toward a more valuable prepaid customer base. Data revenue improved, though MTN admits turning that into steady top-line growth is still a priority.

The fintech arm is gaining ground but remains short of the group’s medium-term goals. Excluding Airtime Advance, MoMo revenue grew 18.5% over nine months and 19.9% in the third quarter. Advanced services were the standout, expanding 32.4%. Fintech transaction value climbed 36.9% to US$512.5 billion. MTN says it will concentrate on rebuilding Airtime Advance in Nigeria while keeping advanced services growing.

The customer base kept expanding. At the end of September, MTN served 323.0 million customers, among them 181.7 million active data users and 70.3 million active Mobile Money users. Data traffic grew 27.3% to 22,754 petabytes.

On the balance sheet, free cash flow reached R22.4 billion and the group sent R21.4 billion up to its holding company in the first nine months. Net debt stood at just 0.2 times EBITDA, leaving room to maneuver. MTN has bought back R2.0 billion of shares under its R6.0 billion repurchase programme.

The planned acquisition of IHS Holdings is moving forward. IHS shareholders have signed off, and approvals are in hand from Nigerian regulators and COMESA. Remaining regulatory steps are under way, and MTN expects to close the deal before the end of 2026.

For the rest of the year, the company says it will aim to hold its momentum in its biggest markets, revive revenue in South Africa and push fintech closer to its targets, all while staying disciplined with cash and returns to shareholders.

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