According to MTN Nigeria unaudited results for the nine months ended 30 September 2019, the operator generated 854.9 billion naira as revenue within the period, representing a 12.1% revenue growth over what it recorded in the same period in 2018.
The report showed earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 39.3% to 460.1 billion naira, while capital expenditure jumped 39.5% to 154.1 billion naira.
Even though subscriber numbers grew by 100,000 to 61.6 million, MTN said it was required to undertake a SIM re-registration process, which resulted in a disconnection of about 576,000 active subscribers, negatively impacting base growth.
Data added 18.0% to operating revenue, up from 15% in the third quarter of the year.
“We continued to focus on maintaining our commercial momentum in Nigeria, recording data revenue growth of 35,3% YoY in the nine months to September 2019, which was driven by a 75,1% increase in data traffic over the same period; an acceleration from the 67% traffic growth in the six months to June 2019,” MTN stated.
It attributed the development to increased active data users on its network.
“We recorded 1,6 million more QoQ active data users, closing the quarter with 22,3 million users. The acceleration in data traffic was assisted by the access to additional 800MHz spectrum, granted in April 2019, as well as the ramp-up in our 4G footprint, increasing our population coverage to over 35% at September 2019, from 28,6% at June 2019. This supported growth in the number of 4G devices and subscribers on our network.”
Regarding its FinTech services, MTN Nigeria revealed it now has 66 282 registered agents and target a total of 100 000 agents by the end of the year. The company’s super-agent licence allows it to leverage its established distribution channels to offer basic banking products including person-to-person money transfers.
MTN however disclosed it is yet to obtain a payment service bank (PSB) licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which will enable the company, in time, to offer a broader and deeper range of mobile financial services.