MTN Nigeria, the country's biggest mobile network, made ₦1.17 trillion in profit after tax in the first nine months of 2026, up 55.3% from ₦750.19 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 23.6% to ₦4.61 trillion, according to the company's unaudited financial statements for the nine months to 30 September, which the board approved on 29 October and the company released on Friday, 30 October.
Profit before tax rose 59.4% to ₦1.80 trillion and earnings per share rose to ₦55.60 from ₦35.80. In the third quarter alone, MTN Nigeria made ₦457.6 billion after tax, up 36.5% from ₦335.3 billion, on revenue of ₦1.62 trillion, up 19.7%.
Data does the heavy lifting
Data is now the business. Data revenue, which covers mobile data, fixed broadband and data bundles, rose 36% to ₦2.68 trillion, from ₦1.97 trillion. Voice, once MTN's core product, grew far more slowly, up 13.8% to ₦1.36 trillion. Data made up 58% of all revenue in the period.
Chief executive Karl Toriola said growth is "increasingly volume-led, driven by more users, deeper data adoption, higher usage", Techeconomy reports. According to the company's results release, as reported by Techeconomy, MTN Nigeria had 94.7 million subscribers at the end of September, up 10.9% from 85.4 million a year earlier, and its EBITDA margin rose 5.5 percentage points to 56.9%. Toriola described the third quarter as a recovery from a temporary slowdown in the second.
- SMS revenue, which includes bulk SMS and USSD, rose 17.3% to ₦173.0 billion.
- Digital revenue (video, music, gaming and e-commerce) rose 24% to ₦88.4 billion.
- Interconnect and roaming fell 2.7% to ₦163.1 billion.
- Operating profit rose 38.2% to ₦1.99 trillion; finance costs fell 11% to ₦359.6 billion.
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The weak spot was fintech. Value-added services, the line that holds airtime lending and mobile money, fell 25.7% to ₦97.3 billion from ₦131.1 billion. Techeconomy reports that the airtime and data credit service was suspended from April to June, while Toriola said core mobile money revenue more than doubled, up 102.2%.
MTN Nigeria still plans to move its fintech businesses, MoMo Payment Service Bank and Yello Digital Financial Services, out of the listed company. Shareholders approved that separation on 30 April 2026, but the filing says it had not been completed by 30 September and still needs regulatory approval.
Cash for shareholders, less debt
MTN Nigeria paid ₦859.7 billion in dividends in the nine months, after paying none in the same period of 2025, and cut its borrowings to ₦260.9 billion from ₦419.6 billion at the end of December. Its share price closed September at ₦837, up 63.8% from ₦511 at the end of 2025, giving it a market value of ₦17.57 trillion on the Nigerian Exchange. Capital spending, excluding leases, rose 14.2% to ₦864.8 billion, according to Techeconomy.
The results land as lawmakers press telcos over network quality. The House of Representatives has summoned the CEOs of MTN, Airtel, Glo and Mafab over poor service, and the Nigerian Communications Commission told operators this week to show that their network spending is improving service, as Airtel unveiled its Open Network map.
