MTN Nigeria reported ₦1,165.17 billion in consolidated net profit for the first nine months of 2026, a 55.3% increase from the same period a year earlier. In results published on 30 October, the telecommunications operator also recorded ₦4,613.32 billion in revenue, up 23.6% year on year.
Demand for connectivity remains the main driver of that growth. Mobile data revenue rose 35.8%, supported by 57.2 million active data users, 12% more than a year earlier. Average monthly data use reached 15.3 gigabytes per active user, while the total mobile subscriber base increased 10.9% to 94.7 million.
Stronger margins amplified the impact of rising sales on earnings. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 36.8% to about ₦2.6 trillion, lifting the margin by 5.5 percentage points to 56.9%. Operating expenses increased by 8.5%, well below revenue growth, while net finance costs fell 25.3% to ₦277 billion.
Network spending and MoMo growth
The company also expanded its network investment programme. Capital expenditure excluding leases reached ₦864.8 billion, a 14.2% rise, as MTN added coverage and capacity. Free cash flow rose 57.5% to about ₦1.2 trillion, supporting that spending alongside shareholder distributions.
In financial services, revenue from the core MoMo mobile money business rose 102.2%. The wider fintech segment posted a 25.9% revenue decline after the airtime and data credit service was suspended between April and June, before resuming through a multi-partner arrangement. The new MoMo platform had 3.2 million monthly active users at the end of September.
MTN reaffirmed its medium-term outlook, which calls for average service revenue growth of at least the low-20% range and an EBITDA margin in the mid-to-high-50% range.