MTN Records N329.2bn Revenue Rise

MTN Nigeria reported revenue growth of 16.7 per cent to N329.2bn in the first quarter ended March 31, 2020 compared with N282.1bn in the same period in 2019.

The growth, according to the unaudited first quarter report of the company, was largely driven by voice and data revenues.

According to the telecom company, service revenue rose by 16.7 per cent year-on-year to N328.5bn.

MTN said mobile subscribers increased by 4.2 million to 68.5 million, an increase of 7.4 per cent.

MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Ferdi Moolman, said data revenue increased by 59.2 per cent due to growth in data traffic and the addition of 1.7 million active Internet subscribers to the network during the quarter.

Moolman stated, “We recorded a solid performance in the first quarter, building on the growth momentum we achieved in Q4 2019.

“Service revenue was strong and rose by 16.7 per cent driven by voice and data revenue; 4.2 million subscribers were added to the network, driving voice revenue growth of 7.4 per cent.

“We continued to deepen penetration with the further rollout of 4G sites, increasing 4G coverage to 48 per cent in Q1 2020 from 44 per cent as at year-end 2019.”

According to the MTN boss, there was a strong growth in digital which grew by 63.7 per cent and fintech revenue growth of 36.1 per cent.

He explained that the mobile money agent network of the company reached 178,000, adding 70,000 agents during the quarter.

Moolman stated that the Value Added Tax, which was increased in February 2020 from five per cent to 7.5 per cent had adversely affected both revenue and costs.

He said towards the end of March, the company experienced changes in traffic patterns with a drop in voice traffic, which was partially offset by an increase in data traffic of the network.