MTN Group posted its strongest full-year results in nearly a decade on Monday, surpassing 300 million customers across Africa for the first time, swinging from a per-share loss to a substantial profit, and unveiling a new five-year strategy that bets heavily on artificial intelligence (AI), digital infrastructure and mobile financial services to drive the next phase of growth across the continent.
Service revenue rose 22.9 percent to R218.5 billion for the year ended December 31, 2025, driven by outperformance in Nigeria and Ghana, which grew service revenue in constant-currency terms by 54.9 percent and 35.9 percent respectively. Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 36.8 percent in constant currency to R98.5 billion, with margins expanding to 44.5 percent, supported by R3.6 billion in expense efficiencies.
Group profit jumped to R20.3 billion, reversing a loss recorded in 2024 when sharp currency depreciations, particularly in Nigeria, eroded the value of earnings across the 16-country operation. Headline Earnings Per Share (EPS) rose to 1,274 cents from 110 cents in 2024, and basic EPS returned to profit after a full-year loss.
MTN declared a dividend of 500 cents per share, up from 345 cents in 2024 and significantly above the board’s previously guided minimum of 370 cents, representing the 45 percent increase the company had flagged in its operational update earlier in the year. The group also introduced a new remuneration framework that commits to distributing 40 to 60 percent of equity free cash flow annually, including a R6 billion share buyback programme to be executed over three years beginning in 2026, subject to shareholder approval.
Data revenue reached $6 billion at the group level, with active data customers growing 9.4 percent to 172.6 million users and average monthly data consumption per subscriber rising to 12.5 gigabytes from 10.8 gigabytes. Mobile Money transaction volumes grew 15 percent to more than 23 billion, with total transaction value exceeding $500 billion for the year. Ghana and Uganda were singled out as the core drivers of Mobile Money growth, led by the expansion of the MoMo Advance credit product.
“We are hugely excited about Africa’s potential and are well positioned to leverage our scale, footprint and brand leadership to capture the significant structural growth opportunities identified,” said Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita.
Alongside its financial results, MTN unveiled Ambition 2030, its next strategic framework organising the group around three core platforms: connectivity, fintech and digital infrastructure. The strategy targets a sustained annual shareholder distribution range of 40 to 60 percent of equity free cash flow and sets AI deployment and home broadband expansion as its two principal growth frontiers. MTN Ghana, whose full-year results were separately published in late February, will contribute to all three pillars through its ongoing 5G network rollout, the planned separate stock exchange listing of MobileMoney Fintech Limited, and a US$1.1 billion capital expenditure programme through the strategy period.
