MTN Group has delivered strong growth in the first half of 2026 as rising mobile data consumption, subscriber expansion, home broadband, fibre, digital services and fintech strengthened its position across African telecom markets.
Service revenue of MTN increased 9.7 percent to R115.3 billion, compared with R105.1 billion in H1 2025. Data emerged as the largest contributor, accounting for 49.9 percent of Group service revenue.
EBITDA increased 20 percent, with the margin rising from 42.7 percent to 47.1 percent.
MTN Subscriber Base Reaches 317.7 Million
MTN’s customer base increased 6.7 percent to 317.7 million across its markets.
Data subscribers of MTN Group grew 9.1 percent to 179.3 million, supported by greater smartphone penetration and increasing digital engagement. Smartphone penetration across MTN’s footprint reached 66.5 percent.
Data consumption also accelerated. Average usage reached 13.6 GB per user, helping lift total data traffic 22.8 percent to 14.3 PB.
MTN did not disclose a consolidated Group ARPU or churn figure. The operator instead highlighted subscriber growth, usage, revenue and customer-base quality metrics.
Data Revenue Jumps 29.2 Percent
Data remained MTN’s primary connectivity growth engine, with data revenue increasing 21 percent to R57.6 billion.
The combination of 179.3 million active data subscribers, higher consumption per customer and greater smartphone adoption is steadily shifting MTN’s revenue mix toward data-led services.
Voice revenue grew 2.4 percent, reflecting the structural migration of communications toward data, OTT services and digital messaging.
Home Broadband Customer Base Surges 58.2 Percent
Home broadband was one of MTN’s fastest-growing connectivity businesses during H1 2026.
The Group’s active home customer base jumped 58.2 percent, supported by expansion of fixed wireless access and an accelerating move toward fibre.
FTTH grew faster than FWA and increased its share of MTN’s active home broadband base. MTN Nigeria led the Group’s fibre expansion, with both network rollout and customer connections running materially ahead of plan.
MTN plans to use a combination of technologies rather than pursue fibre everywhere. FTTH will be targeted at attractive urban clusters, while 4G and 5G FWA will provide a more scalable option in other locations.
In South Africa, MTN is also scaling FWA and FTTH services. Products including Shesh@5G and MTN AirFibre supported home connectivity demand.
Bayobab Fibre Revenue Grows 37.2 Percent
MTN’s infrastructure strategy is also benefiting from fibre expansion.
Bayobab’s Fibre segment recorded 37.2 percent growth in revenue, supported by new infrastructure contracts, network expansion and improved service delivery.
Bayobab continued expanding its terrestrial fibre network, including progress on its East-to-West fibre programme with Africa50.
MTN Digital Infrastructure’s external revenue declined 7.1 percent to R2.3 billion, affected by lower international voice traffic and currency volatility.
Communication Platforms external revenue fell 14.9 percent, reflecting weaker international voice traffic and messaging revenue.
Digital Services Revenue Climbs 20.9 Percent
MTN continued to expand beyond traditional telecom services, with digital services revenue growing 20.9 percent in constant currency.
Lifestyle and gaming services were major contributors, led particularly by Ghana and Nigeria. MTN also started rolling out MTN One TV, expanding its digital entertainment portfolio.
Performance was particularly strong in Ghana, where digital revenue surged 97.5 percent, supported by greater adoption of gaming, video and content services. MTN Ghana’s overall subscriber base increased 8.5 percent to 32.8 million.
MTN Nigeria reported 20.9 percent growth in digital revenue, while digital revenue across the Southern and East Africa region increased 85.7 percent.
MTN Pushes AI Data Centres and AI-Native RAN
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of MTN’s digital infrastructure strategy.
MTN Digital Infrastructure is developing an AI-enabled data centre platform aimed at growing demand for cloud, enterprise, AI and data-intensive applications. South Africa and Nigeria have been selected as the initial deployment markets.
MTN Digital Infrastructure entered a partnership with a UAE-backed data centre investment platform to create Africa Data Hub Holding Limited, which will pursue AI-ready digital infrastructure opportunities across African markets.
MTN is investing directly in AI networking technology. MTN Digital Infrastructure participated as an investor in ODC’s Series A funding round, supporting development of AI-native RAN and edge intelligence platforms. The companies are assessing deployment opportunities, use cases and commercial models.
MTN Fintech Revenue Rises 13.3 Percent
Fintech remained major digital growth platform. Fintech revenue increased 13.3 percent, despite the temporary suspension of airtime advance services in Nigeria and disruptions to Uganda’s agent network.
MoMo monthly active users increased 12.1 percent to 70.8 million. MTN had 1.4 million active agents, up 13.1 percent, while active merchants increased 18.1 percent to 2.3 million.
Fintech transaction volumes rose 17.2 percent to 13 billion, while transaction value jumped 33.8 percent to US$330.5 billion.
MTN South Africa Subscribers Dip to 39.5 Million
MTN South Africa delivered a more mixed performance. Service revenue increased 1.5 percent, data revenue rose 4 percent, enterprise revenue grew 5.8 percent and wholesale revenue advanced 13.7 percent.
However, voice revenue fell 10.2 percent, digital revenue decreased 7.5 percent and fintech revenue declined 16.3 percent.
The South African subscriber base declined 0.7 percent to 39.5 million, reflecting MTN’s deliberate strategy to improve the quality of its prepaid customer base.
Prepaid subscribers declined 4.5 percent to 28.2 million, down from 29.3 million in Q1. In contrast, postpaid subscribers increased 9.1 percent to 4.8 million.
Postpaid service revenue increased 4.9 percent, while average monthly data usage among active postpaid data subscribers climbed 32 percent to 32.3 GB. Prepaid monthly consumption increased 23.6 percent to 4.9 GB.
Nigeria and Ghana Lead Revenue Growth
MTN Nigeria remained the Group’s largest growth contributor. Service revenue increased 25.7 percent, including 38.2 percent growth in data revenue, 11.8 percent growth in voice revenue and 20.9 percent growth in digital revenue.
Nigeria contributed 30.6 percent of Group service revenue, with service revenue reaching R35.33 billion. EBITDA increased 38.7 percent, while the EBITDA margin expanded 5.3 percentage points to 55.9 percent.
MTN Ghana delivered even faster service revenue growth of 32.3 percent, including 47.3 percent growth in data revenue, 97.5 percent growth in digital revenue and 23.7 percent growth in fintech revenue.
Ghana’s active data subscribers increased 17 percent to 21.3 million, while average monthly data consumption climbed 38 percent to 19.3 GB per active user. Data increased its contribution to service revenue from 52.8 percent to 58.7 percent.
MTN Invests R19.7 Billion in Networks and Digital Growth
MTN deployed R19.7 billion of capex excluding leases during H1 2026, down from R20.8 billion a year earlier. Capex intensity declined from 19 percent to 16.6 percent, remaining within MTN’s medium-term target range of 15-18 percent.
Nigeria accounted for a significant portion of investment, with R9.4 billion of capex and R7.3 billion excluding leases. Nigeria’s ex-leases capex increased 1.2 percent, with capex intensity reaching 20.6 percent, as MTN invested in network capacity, coverage and home broadband.
MTN Ghana invested R3.1 billion, or R2.8 billion excluding leases, while South Africa recorded R3.3 billion of capex, including R2.6 billion excluding leases.
The financial performance underlines MTN’s evolving growth model: traditional mobile connectivity remains central, but data, home broadband, FTTH, digital services, fintech, AI-ready data centres and AI-native network infrastructure are becoming increasingly important components of future revenue growth.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH
