JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile network operator, announced on Monday that consolidated service revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2026 rose 17.2 percent in constant currency terms (and 9.9 percent on a reported basis) to reach R176.2 billion ($10.68 billion), propelled by restored commercial growth momentum in Nigeria and sustained high performance in Ghana.
Momentum accelerated steadily every month from May to exit September at 18.1 percent, lifting third quarter group service revenue by 16.6 percent. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) outpaced top line growth, surging 22.9 percent to reach R86.0 billion across the nine month period (and rising 20.1 percent in the third quarter alone), expanding the group EBITDA margin by 2.8 percentage points to 47.9 percent despite elevated energy costs across operating markets. Across its pan African footprint, MTN’s total subscriber base reached approximately 323 million customers, including 181.7 million active data subscribers and 70.3 million active Mobile Money (MoMo) users, as nine month constant currency data revenue jumped 28.2 percent to R88.9 billion on a 27.3 percent surge in data traffic to 22,754 petabytes.
Ralph Mupita, Group President and Chief Executive Officer of MTN Group, stated that the third quarter represented the operator’s strongest quarterly performance of 2026, underscoring the resilience and underlying quality of the group’s continental portfolio as service revenue reaccelerated and EBITDA continued to expand faster than revenue. Mupita affirmed that management remains focused on sustaining commercial momentum, widening operating margins, and converting top line expansion into strong cash generation and shareholder returns.
Regional performance was anchored by MTN Nigeria, where third quarter service revenue climbed 19.7 percent (accelerating from 13.2 percent in the second quarter to exit September at 21.6 percent) alongside a 32.8 percent surge in Q3 EBITDA, expanding Nigeria’s total subscriber base by 10.9 percent to 94.7 million and active data users by 12.0 percent to 57.2 million. Concurrently, MTN Ghana delivered 35.7 percent third quarter service revenue growth and a 42.1 percent jump in EBITDA, complemented by improving contributions from Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. In its domestic market, MTN South Africa recorded its strongest earnings quarter of the year as structural cost interventions lifted Q3 EBITDA by 7.0 percent and widened its EBITDA margin by 3.6 percentage points to 38.1 percent, while nine month service revenue edged up 1.0 percent. Within financial technology, nine month revenue grew 12.7 percent, remaining below medium term targets following earlier Q2 disruptions to Nigeria’s Airtime Advance micro lending product, which relaunched in July under a multi partner architecture and is projected to return to pre suspension volumes before year end.
Strengthening its balance sheet and capital allocation flexibility, MTN Group invested R28.8 billion in nine month capital expenditure (improving CapEx intensity from 16.8 percent to 15.9 percent), generated R22.4 billion in free cash flow, and boosted cash upstreamed from operating subsidiaries by 80 percent year on year to R21.4 billion. Group net debt to EBITDA improved from 0.4 times to 0.2 times, preserving R42.8 billion in liquidity headroom as the operator executed R2.0 billion of its planned R6.0 billion share buyback program. Meanwhile, MTN’s pending $6.2 billion acquisition of tower infrastructure operator IHS Holdings remains on schedule for completion before year end, having secured IHS shareholder backing alongside Nigerian regulatory and COMESA clearances, while awaiting remaining approvals from the South African Competition Tribunal, ECOWAS, and CEMAC.
