MTN Nigeria has reported a 33.6% increase in service revenue totaling N2.4tn in the first nine months of 2024, largely driven by data sales, which accounted for N1.14trn. This marked a significant 52.3% increase in data revenue compared to the N749.53bn recorded in the same period last year.
According to financial results released to Nigerian Exchange Limited, MTN’s profit after tax for the third quarter of 2024 was N4.1bn, reflecting moderate growth amid a challenging economic environment.
However, the telecommunications giant reported a net loss of N514.9bn for the nine months due to significant foreign exchange losses.
MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola, attributed the company’s revenue growth to strong business momentum in data, voice, fintech and digital services.
He stated that MTN’s operational resilience allowed it to beat average inflation with a 33.6% increase in service revenue, despite challenges in its subscriber base related to the NIN-SIM regulations.
The company’s data usage surged, with active data users increasing by 5.1% to 45.3 million and average data usage per user increasing by 31.2% to 11.3 GB.
While the forex revaluation resulted in negative retained earnings of N723bn, Toriola pointed out that the adjusted profit after tax, excluding foreign exchange losses, would have been N118.5bn, notwithstanding the fact that the forex revaluation resulted in negative retained earnings of N723bn.
Additionally, MTN had a positive free cash flow of N536.8bn, a 21.9% increase, as a result of favourable working capital and decreased capital expenditure.
Toriola came to the conclusion that MTN Nigeria’s business fundamentals are still solid in spite of the foreign exchange difficulties, as seen by the ongoing rise in demand for digital and data services.
