MTN Rakes N460.1bn Revenue, 61.6m Subscribers in Nine Months

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, otherwise known as MTN Nigeria, yesterday released its quarter three results for the nine months ended on September 30, where it recorded increased Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) by 39.3 per cent to N460.1 billion and an increased subscriber number by 0.1 million to reach 61.6 million subscribers on its network, with increased active data subscribers by 1.6 million to reach 22.3 million active data users on its network.

According to the financial report, the telecoms company’s service revenue increased by 12.1 per cent to N854.9 billion, even though EBITDA grew by 39.3 per cent to N460.1 billion.

The EBITDA margin increased to 53.7 per cent, while earnings per share rose by 29 per cent to N7.29k, with increased capital expenditure (Capex) by 39.5 per cent to N154.1 billion.

MTN Nigeria CEO, Ferdi Moolman, while analysing the Q3 financial results, said the bottom-line remained strong with growth of 24.0 per cent and 28.9 per cent respectively in profit before and after tax.

“Our company’s performance is very encouraging, demonstrating the resilience of our business despite a challenging operating environment. We sustained double-digit growth in service revenue led by growth in voice and data revenue.

“We recorded 61.6 million subscribers, representing a 0.1 million increase QoQ. We were required to undertake a SIM reregistration process, which resulted in a disconnection of around 0.6 million active subscribers, limiting base growth.

“During the quarter, we focused on the end-to-end optimisation and repositioning of our data offerings. We made significant investments in accelerating 4G network expansion; and leveraging 800MHz spectrum activated in Q2 2019. We launched enhanced 4G+ services in Lagos, Abuja, and Port-Harcourt. We also changed our pricing strategy, placing us in an even stronger competitive position going forward.