Market News

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 17 (Reuters) – South Africa’s MTN said on Monday its service revenue for the nine months to September rose by 25.9%, driven by strong performances in Nigeria and Ghana.

Africa’s biggest telecom operator, which has more than 300 million customers in 16 markets across the continent, said that excluding the effect of currency fluctuations, group service revenue increased by 22.6%.

MTN Nigeria led growth with a 57.1% rise in service revenue while MTN Ghana rose 35.9%, supported by lower inflation and more stable exchange rates.

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However, MTN South Africa saw a slower growth of 2% as gains in post-paid and enterprise were offset by continued pressure in a highly competitive prepaid market.

Data revenue increased by 40%, driven by an expansion of active data subscribers and strong demand, MTN said, while Fintech revenue rose 35.7%.

MTN said 27.9 billion rand ($1.63 billion) in capital expenditure to help expand its commercial business had helped drive growth in data traffic and fintech transactions.

Customer numbers grew 5% to 301 million.

MTN said it plans to expand its AI-powered digital inclusion initiative with Microsoft across Africa in early 2026.