MTN Nigeria reports strong demand and big profit turnaround amid a stabilising economy

MTN Nigeria, the biggest subsidiary of the South African telecoms provider, experienced robust demand in the second quarter and saw a sharp turnaround in first-half profit as the West African economy began to stabilise.

“The macroeconomic conditions in Nigeria showed notable improvements (six months to June 30), including a relatively stable naira, improved foreign exchange (forex) liquidity and easing inflationary pressures,” said MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola. This follows recent economic instability during which many South African companies suffered foreign exchange-related losses, in particular, from their operations in Nigeria.

MTN Nigeria posted a N414.9 billion net profit in the first half of 2025, a dramatic turnaround from the N519.1bn loss in the first half of 2024.

“Building on momentum from the first quarter, we delivered strong growth in service revenue (56% year-on-year). This was driven by strong demand, proactive customer value management and price adjustments, mainly in the second quarter. In reinforcing this, we accelerated investment in our network to enhance capacity,” he said at the release of the interim results on Thursday.

He said they were continuing with efficiency initiatives to accelerate the recovery of profitability in the business.

Due to the strong first-half performance, the 2025 full financial year’s guidance was upgraded, and the group remains "firmly on track to restore our balance sheet to a positive net asset position by the end of the third quarter,” he said.

On the regulatory front, an industry directive was implemented to restrict third-party agents to a single SIM registration per customer, except for agents identified as strategic partners. This may temporarily slow the growth rate of gross connections, but it would improve the quality of SIM registrations, which was positive for the industry’s overall growth.

The number of mobile subscribers rose to 84.7 million, with a net addition of 3.8 million in the first half, despite the impact of the new SIM registration regulations introduced in the first quarter.

Active data users rose by 3.3 million to about 51 million, driving a 41.2% year-on-year increase in data traffic.

Phased new price adjustments were implemented across voice and data bundles, largely benefiting the second quarter.

“Pleasingly, the demand for our services remained resilient, which supported strong service revenue growth in the period,” he said.

The first phase of the $240m Dabengwa Tier 3 Data Centre was launched in July 2025. The multi-stage data centre project will become the largest of its kind in West Africa.

The group received the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) approval for a national roaming agreement with Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (9Mobile).

“In support of the NCC’s vision of a fully connected Nigeria and deepening market inclusion. In this context, we have begun the process of onboarding mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) onto our network,” Tariola said.

On the fintech strategy, some 562 000 customers were added in the second quarter, bringing the number of active wallets to 2.7 million.

“We have attracted a higher number of high-value users, leveraging our partner network, which has helped to spur sustained growth in customer deposits, which rose by nearly fivefold by June 2025, compared to December 2024,” he said.

Cost pressures were mitigated through the revised IHS tower lease agreement, relative naira stability and progress in efficiency initiatives. Earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 119.5% to N1.2 trillion. Retained earnings improved to negative N192.9bn from negative N607.5bn at the end of December 2024.

“We expect to sustain strong operational and financial growth momentum in the second half, supported by a more stable macroeconomic and regulatory environment, continued demand for our services, the benefit of recent price adjustments and network investments,” he said.

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