South Africa’s MTN said on Tuesday its core earnings jumped 27.9% in the first quarter, outpacing revenue growth as tighter cost control and strong performances in Nigeria and Ghana boosted profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Africa’s biggest telecom operator, which has more than 310 million customers in 16 markets across the continent, said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the three months ended March 31 rose to R27.6 billion in constant currency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its EBITDA margin widened by 3 percentage points to 47.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Group service revenue, excluding the effect of currency fluctuations, grew by 21.1% to R56.8 billion, led by strong performances in MTN Nigeria, up 41.7%, MTN Ghana, up 35.7%, MTN Cameroon, up 14.4% and MTN Cote d’Ivoire, up 18.3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the continued competitive pressure on the prepaid market at MTN South Africa, service revenue growth edged up by 0.7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MTN said its prepaid recovery strategy remains on track, focusing on improving distribution, refreshing its offerings, tightening credit and competing more actively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prepaid revenue in South Africa declined 3.3%, but this was a slowdown from 3.8% in the prior quarter, it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company said the business is showing early signs of stabilising, with growth in cash recharges offsetting a decline in XtraTime usage, a service that allows prepaid customers to borrow airtime and data bundles from MTN when running low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consumer prepaid subscriber numbers have also recovered from their Q4 losses, growing by 0.7% YoY to 29.3 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are seeing encouraging improvement in consumer prepaid data growth which has increased by 3.8% YoY, from 0.8% in Q4 2025,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was in line with management’s strategy to reduce reliance on XTraTime advances, which declined 18.3% YoY as a result, and improve the quality and overall health of the base. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This reset is resulting in improvements in cash recharging customers as well as a significant increase in customers paying back their advances within the month, boding well for the outlook of this business.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Data remained the biggest contributor to overall group service revenue growth, rising 35.4%. Voice revenue grew by 4.7%, while financial services revenue jumped 20%, MTN said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On energy supply risks, MTN said it is working with its partners to ensure sufficient energy availability to meet its ongoing diesel needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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