Johannesburg, South Africa – [Insert Date] – MTN Group has unveiled a stellar performance for the first half of 2026, reporting robust growth across its African markets. The telecommunications giant has significantly bolstered its market position through a potent combination of surging mobile data consumption, expanding subscriber bases, aggressive home broadband and fibre network expansion, and a rapidly growing portfolio of digital and fintech services. This strategic diversification has cemented MTN’s role as a leading digital solutions provider across the continent.
A Period of Unprecedented Expansion
The first half of 2026 marked a period of substantial financial and operational achievement for MTN Group. The company’s strategic focus on enhancing its core connectivity offerings while simultaneously pioneering new digital frontiers has yielded remarkable results. This success is underpinned by a clear understanding of evolving consumer needs and a commitment to investing in future-proof technologies.
Key Highlights of H1 2026 Performance:
- Service Revenue Surge: MTN Group’s service revenue experienced a significant increase of 9.7 percent, reaching R115.3 billion, a notable jump from R105.1 billion recorded in H1 2025. This impressive growth underscores the company’s ability to monetize its expanding customer base and diverse service offerings.
- Data as the Dominant Driver: Mobile data has firmly established itself as the primary engine of revenue generation for MTN. It accounted for an impressive 49.9 percent of the Group’s total service revenue, highlighting the insatiable demand for digital connectivity across its markets.
- EBITDA and Margin Expansion: Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) saw a substantial 20 percent increase. Furthermore, the EBITDA margin demonstrated remarkable improvement, rising from 42.7 percent to an robust 47.1 percent, reflecting enhanced operational efficiency and strong revenue growth.
- Record Subscriber Growth: MTN’s customer base expanded by a significant 6.7 percent, bringing the total number of subscribers across its operational footprint to an impressive 317.7 million. This widespread adoption is a testament to MTN’s extensive network reach and compelling service value propositions.
Data Consumption and Smartphone Penetration Drive Connectivity Boom
The remarkable growth in service revenue is inextricably linked to the escalating demand for mobile data and the increasing penetration of smartphones across MTN’s markets.
Data Subscribers and Usage Soar
MTN Group witnessed a significant surge in its data subscriber base, which grew by an impressive 9.1 percent to reach 179.3 million. This expansion is directly attributed to the increasing affordability and accessibility of smartphones, coupled with a growing reliance on digital platforms for communication, entertainment, and commerce.
The average data consumption per user also accelerated, reaching an impressive 13.6 GB per user. This heightened usage translated into a substantial 22.8 percent increase in total data traffic, which climbed to an astounding 14.3 Petabytes (PB). This exponential growth in data consumption underscores the critical role of mobile internet in the daily lives of Africans and positions MTN as a key enabler of this digital transformation.
Data Revenue Outpaces Voice Growth
Data revenue emerged as the undisputed growth champion within MTN’s connectivity portfolio, registering a substantial 21 percent increase to R57.6 billion. This impressive growth trajectory solidifies data as MTN’s primary connectivity growth engine. The confluence of a burgeoning data subscriber base, increased per-customer data consumption, and widespread smartphone adoption is strategically shifting MTN’s revenue mix towards data-centric services.
In stark contrast, voice revenue experienced a more modest growth of 2.4 percent. This marginal increase reflects a broader industry trend of structural migration in communication patterns, with consumers increasingly favouring data-driven over-the-top (OTT) services and digital messaging platforms for their communication needs.
Home Broadband and Fibre Expansion Accelerates
Beyond its core mobile offerings, MTN has made significant strides in expanding its home broadband and fibre infrastructure, catering to the growing demand for reliable and high-speed internet connectivity within households.
Home Broadband Customer Base Surges
Home broadband emerged as one of MTN’s fastest-growing connectivity segments during H1 2026. The Group’s active home customer base experienced a remarkable surge of 58.2 percent. This expansion has been propelled by the strategic deployment of fixed wireless access (FWA) solutions and a more aggressive adoption of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technologies.
FTTH solutions demonstrated a faster growth rate compared to FWA, consequently increasing their share within MTN’s active home broadband subscriber base. MTN Nigeria, in particular, has been a frontrunner in the Group’s fibre expansion initiatives, with both network rollout and customer acquisition progressing significantly ahead of initial projections.
MTN’s strategic approach to fibre deployment involves a nuanced, technology-agnostic strategy. FTTH is being strategically targeted at high-potential urban clusters, while 4G and 5G FWA solutions are being leveraged as more scalable and cost-effective alternatives in other geographical areas. This adaptive strategy ensures optimal deployment based on local market conditions and customer needs.
In South Africa, MTN is also actively scaling its FWA and FTTH services. Innovative products such as Shesh@5G and MTN AirFibre have been instrumental in meeting the escalating home connectivity demands in the South African market.
Bayobab Fibre Sees Strong Revenue Growth
MTN’s overarching infrastructure strategy is reaping substantial benefits from its ongoing fibre expansion efforts. Bayobab, MTN’s fibre infrastructure arm, recorded an impressive 37.2 percent growth in revenue. This robust performance is attributed to the securing of new infrastructure contracts, continuous network expansion, and enhanced service delivery capabilities.
Bayobab remains committed to expanding its terrestrial fibre network across the continent, with notable progress being made on its ambitious East-to-West fibre programme, undertaken in partnership with Africa50. This initiative is poised to significantly enhance cross-continental connectivity and unlock new opportunities for digital development.
However, MTN Digital Infrastructure’s external revenue experienced a decline of 7.1 percent, settling at R2.3 billion. This dip was primarily influenced by a reduction in international voice traffic and the inherent volatility associated with currency fluctuations across its operating markets. Similarly, Communications Platforms external revenue saw a decline of 14.9 percent, largely due to weakened international voice traffic and reduced messaging revenue.
Digital Services and Fintech: Pillars of Future Growth
MTN Group is strategically positioning itself as a comprehensive digital solutions provider, demonstrating strong growth in its digital services and fintech segments, which are becoming increasingly vital contributors to its revenue streams.
Digital Services Revenue Climbs
MTN’s foray into services beyond traditional telecommunications is yielding significant dividends. Digital services revenue experienced a substantial increase of 20.9 percent in constant currency terms. Lifestyle and gaming services have emerged as key drivers of this growth, with notable contributions stemming from operations in Ghana and Nigeria.
The company has also expanded its digital entertainment portfolio with the introduction of MTN One TV, further enhancing its offering to consumers. The performance in Ghana has been particularly exceptional, with digital revenue surging by an astounding 97.5 percent. This surge is a direct result of increased adoption of gaming, video, and content services. MTN Ghana’s overall subscriber base also saw healthy growth, increasing by 8.5 percent to 32.8 million.
MTN Nigeria reported a commendable 20.9 percent growth in its digital revenue, while the Southern and East Africa region collectively witnessed an impressive 85.7 percent increase in digital revenue. These figures highlight the broad-based success of MTN’s digital transformation strategy across diverse markets.
AI Integration into Digital Infrastructure
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a central tenet of MTN’s digital infrastructure strategy. MTN Digital Infrastructure is actively developing an AI-enabled data centre platform, designed to cater to the burgeoning demand for cloud computing, enterprise solutions, and AI and data-intensive applications. South Africa and Nigeria have been identified as the initial markets for the deployment of these advanced data centre capabilities.
In a significant strategic move, MTN Digital Infrastructure has partnered with a UAE-backed data centre investment platform to establish Africa Data Hub Holding Limited. This new entity will focus on identifying and capitalising on AI-ready digital infrastructure opportunities across various African markets, underscoring MTN’s commitment to fostering next-generation digital ecosystems.
Furthermore, MTN is making direct investments in cutting-edge AI networking technology. MTN Digital Infrastructure participated as an investor in ODC’s Series A funding round, supporting the development of AI-native Radio Access Network (RAN) and edge intelligence platforms. Collaborative assessments are underway to explore deployment opportunities, identify viable use cases, and define commercial models for these advanced networking solutions.
Fintech Revenue Shows Resilience and Growth
Fintech continues to be a pivotal digital growth platform for MTN. Despite temporary suspensions of airtime advance services in Nigeria and disruptions to Uganda’s agent network, fintech revenue still managed to increase by 13.3 percent. This resilience demonstrates the strong underlying demand for mobile financial services across the continent.
The number of MoMo (Mobile Money) monthly active users experienced robust growth, rising by 12.1 percent to 70.8 million. The agent network also expanded, with active agents increasing by 13.1 percent to 1.4 million, while active merchants saw a significant rise of 18.1 percent, reaching 2.3 million.
Fintech transaction volumes demonstrated strong momentum, increasing by 17.2 percent to 13 billion transactions. The total value of these transactions also saw a substantial jump of 33.8 percent, reaching an impressive US$330.5 billion. These figures highlight the increasing reliance on mobile money for a wide range of financial transactions across MTN’s markets.
Regional Performance Dynamics: Nigeria and Ghana Lead the Charge
While MTN Group has delivered strong overall results, specific markets have emerged as key contributors to this success. Nigeria and Ghana, in particular, have demonstrated exceptional performance, driving significant revenue growth.
Nigeria: A Powerhouse of Growth
MTN Nigeria has once again proven to be the Group’s most significant growth contributor. The Nigerian operation recorded an impressive service revenue increase of 25.7 percent. This growth was fuelled by exceptional performance across its service segments, including a substantial 38.2 percent surge in data revenue, an 11.8 percent increase in voice revenue, and a robust 20.9 percent rise in digital revenue.
Nigeria accounted for a substantial 30.6 percent of the Group’s total service revenue, with its service revenue reaching R35.33 billion. The operational efficiency of MTN Nigeria was further evidenced by a remarkable 38.7 percent increase in EBITDA, accompanied by an expansion of the EBITDA margin by 5.3 percentage points to a commanding 55.9 percent.
Ghana: Unprecedented Acceleration
MTN Ghana delivered even more remarkable service revenue growth, achieving an impressive 32.3 percent increase. This exceptional performance was driven by a powerful combination of factors, including a staggering 47.3 percent growth in data revenue, an outstanding 97.5 percent surge in digital revenue, and a strong 23.7 percent increase in fintech revenue.
Ghana’s active data subscriber base expanded by 17 percent to 21.3 million, with average monthly data consumption climbing by an impressive 38 percent to 19.3 GB per active user. The contribution of data revenue to service revenue in Ghana continued to grow, increasing from 52.8 percent to an dominant 58.7 percent.
Strategic Investments in Future Growth
MTN Group’s sustained success is underpinned by its strategic and disciplined approach to capital expenditure (capex). The company has continued to invest significantly in its network infrastructure and digital growth initiatives, ensuring its readiness for future technological advancements and evolving market demands.
Network and Digital Growth Investments
During H1 2026, MTN deployed R19.7 billion in capex, excluding leases, a slight decrease from the R20.8 billion invested in the same period of the previous year. This resulted in a decline in capex intensity from 19 percent to 16.6 percent, remaining well within MTN’s medium-term target range of 15-18 percent. This indicates a strategic optimisation of investment without compromising on network expansion and upgrades.
Nigeria accounted for a substantial portion of this investment, with R9.4 billion allocated to capex, and R7.3 billion excluding leases. Nigeria’s ex-leases capex saw a 1.2 percent increase, with capex intensity reaching 20.6 percent, reflecting MTN’s commitment to bolstering network capacity, expanding coverage, and accelerating home broadband deployment in this critical market.
MTN Ghana received R3.1 billion in capex (R2.8 billion excluding leases), while South Africa recorded R3.3 billion in capex (R2.6 billion excluding leases). These investments are crucial for maintaining and enhancing network quality, expanding service offerings, and driving digital adoption across these key regions.
Implications for the Future
MTN Group’s H1 2026 financial performance serves as a powerful indicator of its evolving growth model. While traditional mobile connectivity remains a foundational element, the company’s strategic emphasis on data, home broadband, fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), diversified digital services, and the burgeoning fintech sector are increasingly shaping its future revenue streams. The proactive integration of AI-ready data centres and AI-native network infrastructure further positions MTN as a forward-thinking leader, poised to capitalize on the transformative potential of artificial intelligence and advanced digital technologies across the African continent. This strategic foresight and unwavering commitment to innovation are expected to drive continued growth and solidify MTN’s leadership position in the dynamic African telecommunications landscape for years to come.
By Baburajan Kizhakedath
