MTN Group, Africa's largest mobile operator, has reported a strong performance in the first nine months of 2026, with service revenue rising 17.2% in constant currency to R176.2 billion in the period to 30 September. Growth accelerated through the third quarter, reaching 18.1% in September, as a recovery in Nigeria and sustained strength in Ghana offset sluggish trading in South Africa.

Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 22.9% to R86.0 billion, with the EBITDA margin expanding by 2.8 percentage points to 47.9%. On a reported basis, service revenue grew by 9.9%. MTN's shares closed 5.17% higher at R224.19 on Monday 9 November, when the trading update was released.

MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita said the third quarter was the company's strongest of the year. "Service revenue growth re-accelerated through the quarter, while EBITDA continued to grow faster than revenue," he said. "We remain focused on sustaining commercial momentum, expanding margins and converting growth into cash and improved returns."

Nigeria drives the recovery

Nigeria emerged as the group's strongest-performing market. MTN Nigeria's service revenue increased by 19.7% in the third quarter, up from 13.2% in the second quarter, and exited September growing at 21.6%. Its data revenue grew by 31.4% in the quarter, with active data users up 12% to 57.2 million.

MTN Ghana also sustained strong, broad-based growth, with third-quarter service revenue up 35.7% and EBITDA up 42.1%, supported by data, voice, digital services and Mobile Money. By contrast, MTN South Africa recorded its strongest earnings quarter of the year on cost controls, with third-quarter EBITDA up 7.0% and the margin expanding to 38.1%, but service revenue was flat in the quarter and grew by only 1.0% in the nine months, reflecting pressure in the prepaid voice market and lower mobile termination rates.

Data now more than half of service revenue

Data remained MTN's fastest-growing business. Group data revenue increased by 28.2% to R88.9 billion, accounting for 50.4% of total service revenue, and data traffic rose by 27.3% to 22,754 petabytes. At 30 September, MTN served 323.0 million customers, including 181.7 million active data subscribers and 70.3 million active Mobile Money users.

Fintech performance improved in the quarter. Excluding Airtime Advance, Mobile Money revenue increased by 18.5% in the first nine months and accelerated to 19.9% in the third quarter, while fintech transaction value rose by 36.9% to US$512.5 billion. MTN Nigeria's Airtime Advance service, which lets subscribers take airtime and data on credit, was temporarily suspended by regulators in the second quarter; the company said its restoration was supporting an improving commercial trajectory and expects it to return to pre-suspension levels by the end of 2026.

Free cash flow increased to R22.4 billion, and the group bought back R2.0 billion of shares under its R6.0 billion buyback programme. MTN also said its proposed acquisition of IHS Holdings remains on track, with shareholder approval secured and regulatory approvals obtained in Nigeria and from COMESA, and completion expected before the end of 2026. Business Day reported the results on Monday, and ITWeb confirmed the figures from MTN's trading update.