South Africa’s MTN Group reported strong financial and operational performance for 2025, with service revenue rising nearly 25 percent to R218 billion ($13.6 billion), as growth in its West African markets, especially MTN Nigeria and MTN Ghana, powered the final year of its Ambition 2025 strategy.
The telecoms operator said its total customer base climbed to more than 307 million across 16 markets by the end of December 2025, reflecting sustained demand for data services and mobile financial products across Africa.
Data adoption continued to accelerate, with the number of data users reaching 172 million, while mobile money customers rose to 70 million, the company said.
Network traffic increased sharply as well. Data usage across MTN’s networks grew 27 percent during the year, with average monthly consumption per user rising to 12.5 gigabytes from 10.8GB previously.
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The results mark the final phase of the company’s Ambition 2025 strategy, which focused on expanding digital services, strengthening fintech offerings and improving network infrastructure across its markets.
MTN invested about R38 billion in capital expenditure during the year to expand network coverage, increase capacity and enhance the quality of its digital platforms.
Fintech operations also expanded rapidly, with transaction volumes across the company’s mobile money platforms rising 15 percent to more than 23 billion transactions. The total value of these transactions exceeded $500 billion in 2025.
Regional performance remained uneven, reflecting the varying maturity of telecom markets across the continent.
Service revenue at MTN Nigeria jumped 54.9 percent, while MTN Ghana recorded a 35.9 percent increase. By contrast, service revenue in MTN South Africa grew just two percent reflecting slower growth in a more mature and competitive market.
Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), excluding once-off items, rose to R98.5 billion, representing growth of more than one-third in constant currency terms.
MTN said cost-efficiency measures also contributed to the performance, delivering about R3.6 billion in expense savings during the year.
The company returned to profitability at the earnings-per-share level after posting a loss in 2024, while adjusted headline earnings per share climbed 67 percent.
Reflecting the stronger financial performance, MTN’s board declared a dividend of 500 cents per share for 2025, up from 345 cents the previous year and above earlier guidance of at least 370 cents.
The group also announced a R6 billion share buyback programme as part of an enhanced shareholder remuneration framework aimed at boosting investor returns.
A major driver of the recovery was the sharp turnaround at MTN Nigeria, the group’s largest market.
The Nigerian unit reported profit after tax of N1.1 trillion in 2025, compared with a loss of N400.4 billion in 2024, when a steep depreciation of the naira triggered heavy foreign exchange losses.
Improved currency stability and stronger operating performance helped the unit rebound. In the fourth quarter of 2025, pre-tax profit rose 248.8 percent to N569.6 billion from N163.3 billion a year earlier.
Following the recovery, MTN Nigeria’s board proposed a final dividend of N15 per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to N20 per share.
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Investor sentiment has also improved sharply. Shares of MTN Group have risen nearly 80 percent over the past 12 months, lifting the company’s market valuation to about R381 billion, or roughly $23.7 billion.
The results underscore how Africa’s growing demand for data connectivity and digital financial services continues to reshape the telecom sector, with MTN positioning itself at the centre of that expansion.
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