By MTN Nigeria Communications Plc in its Group financial results for the nine months ended 30 September 2026 had a free cash flow of N1.2 trillion, which went up by 57.5%, reflecting strong cash generation.
In the latest financial figures released by the tech giant, total subscribers increased by 10.9% to 94.7 million while active data users went up by 12.0% to 57.2 million.
The Yello brand in the report revealed that her service revenue was up by 23.7% to N4.6 trillion as against the Q3 2026: 19.7% while PAT up 55.3% to N1.2 trillion with PAT margin expanding by 5.1pp to 25.3%.
Commenting on the report, Dr Karl Toriola, Chief Executive Officer, said: “We delivered a very strong third quarter, reversing the temporary slowdown in Q2. Service revenue grew 19.7% (8.4% QoQ), with growth accelerating each month to 21.6% in September. Profitability grew even faster: Q3 EBITDA rose 32.8% (12.5% QoQ) and the EBITDA margin widened by 5.8pp to 58.7%. For the nine months, service revenue grew 23.7% with an EBITDA margin of 56.9%. Both are comfortably within the guidance of ‘at least low-20%’ revenue growth and a ‘mid-to-high-50%’ margin.
Growth is increasingly volume-led, driven by more users, deeper data adoption, higher usage and rising demand for home broadband, supported by continued investment in network coverage, capacity and quality. In fintech, core mobile money revenue more than doubled, up 102.2%, while our airtime and data credit service continued to recover following its resumption under a multi-partner model, with revenue up 78.5% on Q2.
We continue to deliver on our efficiency programme, expanding margins and strengthening cash generation despite energy cost pressures, and these gains are increasingly structural. Our balance sheet is strong, with borrowings fully naira-denominated and at fixed rates, eliminating foreign currency and floating-rate exposure on our debt.
We enter the final quarter with confidence and remain on track to deliver our guidance. Our priorities are clear: sustain growth, protect margins, scale home broadband and rebuild fintech momentum, while creating sustainable value for all our stakeholders.”
Our broad-based revenue growth demonstrates the resilience of our core business and the strength of the underlying demand for our services, which continues to grow. Data was the main contributor to growth, supported by voice, digital services and home broadband.
Data revenue rose 35.8% (Q3 2026: 31.4%), driven by growing digital adoption across our base. Active data users increased by 12.0% to 57.2 million, and average monthly usage per active data user grew by 16.2% to 15.3GB for the nine months (Q3 2026: 17.2GB), lifting network data traffic by 30.1%. Smartphones on our network rose 12.4% YoY as customers upgraded to 4G- and 5G-capable devices, bringing smartphone penetration to 66.0%, up 0.9pp YoY.
Home broadband is becoming an increasingly important contributor to our growth, supported by our leadership position in the FTTH market. FTTH now carries approximately 13% of our total data traffic, helping to free up capacity on the mobile network while enhancing the efficiency and scalability of our network.
Voice revenue grew by 11.1% (Q3 2026: 9.3%), supported by a 10.9% increase in mobile subscribers to 94.7 million and targeted propositions, which offset softer usage per subscriber as customers shift towards data.
Digital revenue increased by 24.0% and accelerated to 30.6% growth in Q3. Growth was led by rich media services and mobile advertising. Enterprise revenue increased by 6.5%, led by bulk SMS, fixed connectivity and converged services, supported by the acquisition of high-quality customers.
In fintech, the core mobile money business continued to scale, with revenue up 102.2%, driven mainly by higher float income as wallet balances more than quadrupled to N43.8 billion from December 2025. Overall fintech revenue declined 25.9% due to the suspension of the airtime and data credit service between April and June. The service resumed under a new multi-partner model and continued to recover in Q3, with revenue up 78.5% on Q2.
In August 2026, MoMo PSB moved to its new Alipay+ platform, a step-change for our fintech business. Built for reliability and scale, it offers a richer, more feature-packed and secure customer experience, giving MoMo PSB the foundation to become a scaled digital financial services platform. Monthly active users at the end of Q3 were 3.2 million, now measured on the new platform only and continue to grow as legacy wallets migrate and new customers are onboarded. Underlying engagement remained robust, with Q3 transaction volumes up 69.1% on Q2.
Our strong top line, combined with disciplined cost management, delivered significant operating leverage. Operating expenses (Opex) rose by 8.5%, well below revenue growth and inflation. This reflected the continued delivery of our expense-efficiency programme, together with the benefit of a stronger naira (N1,329/US$ at the end of September 2026 against N1,475/US$ in September 2025) and VAT input claims, which collectively contained the impact of higher diesel-linked tower costs in Q3.
