When Scancom PLC released its 2025 full-year results last week, the headline that travelled fastest was a 55.9 percent surge in profit after tax. The number that deserves equal attention is what the company handed over to the state before it booked that profit.
MTN Ghana paid GH¢10.5 billion in direct and indirect taxes to government in 2025, up from GH¢8.6 billion the previous year, plus a further GH¢1.3 billion in fees and levies to regulatory and government agencies. That combined GH¢11.8 billion sits against a backdrop of total Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) tax collections of approximately GH¢181.6 billion in 2025, based on figures released last month by the GRA’s Domestic Tax Revenue Division. At that ratio, a single telecommunications company contributed close to 6 percent of the country’s entire national tax take, a concentration that illustrates both the fiscal weight of Ghana’s largest corporate taxpayer and the broader challenge of building a more diversified domestic revenue base.
The GRA’s Domestic Tax Revenue Division collected GH¢130.2 billion in 2025, representing 71.66 percent of the authority’s total revenue, according to Commissioner Dr Martin Kolbil Yamborigya. The GRA fell marginally short of its full-year target, and the authority has set itself an even more demanding GH¢230.13 billion target for 2026. Against that backdrop, anchor contributors like MTN Ghana are a structural pillar of fiscal planning, not a footnote.
MTN Ghana’s tax payments grew in step with earnings that outperformed on almost every metric. Service revenue rose 36.2 percent year-on-year to GH¢24.4 billion, lifted by a 48.8 percent expansion in data revenue, a 35.7 percent rise in Mobile Money (MoMo) income, and digital revenue that more than doubled over the period. Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 43.5 percent to GH¢14.7 billion, pushing the EBITDA margin to 60.1 percent, three percentage points above the 2024 level.
Total mobile subscribers reached 31.2 million at year-end, after the company added 2.6 million new users through the year. Active MoMo users expanded 12.3 percent to 19.3 million, and active data subscribers grew 13.7 percent to 19.9 million. Capital expenditure reached GH¢6.4 billion, including GH¢4.6 billion in ex-lease capex directed at network expansion, capacity upgrades and information technology modernisation.
The board has proposed a final dividend of GH¢0.40 per share for shareholder approval at the upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), a 67 percent increase from the GH¢0.24 paid in 2024. The ex-dividend date is set for March 24, with payment expected on April 10, 2026, to shareholders on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) register by March 26.
The results close out MTN Ghana’s “Ambition 2025” five-year strategic cycle. Management has guided for service revenue growth in the mid-to-upper thirties percent range for the medium term, with EBITDA margins expected to remain in the mid-to-upper fifties percent range. The board has indicated it intends to maintain a dividend payout ratio of between 60 and 80 percent, subject to prevailing operating conditions.
For Ghana’s fiscal planners, the trajectory of MTN Ghana’s earnings matters beyond the company’s own shareholders. As the GRA pursues an ambitious 2026 target requiring 21 percent revenue growth, high-performing large taxpayers remain critical to closing any shortfall. The question the scale of MTN Ghana’s contribution quietly raises is what the national tax base would look like if more companies across other sectors generated comparable earnings, compliance and disclosure.
