By MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has returned to profitability after the mishap in its financial books last year.
Latest financail releases of unaudited results for the quarter ended
31 March 2025 by the leading Africa’s telecoms company revealed a whooping service revenue of N1.0 trillion.
The financial books made available to TechnologyMirror said that service revenue grew by 40.5% to N1.0 trillion while tootal subscribers increased by 8.2% to 84.1 million just as another
3.2 million subscribers was added in Q1 2025.
The company disclosed that her active data users rose by 13.0% to 50.3 million with and additional 2.6 million active users in Q1 2025.
According to the report, EBITDA
increased by 65.9% to N492.7 billion while EBITDA margin expanded by 7.2 percentage points (pp) to 46.6%.
It was a cheering news for shareholders when the company unveiled earnings per share of N6.38 kobo even as the telecoms company had her apital expenditure (Capex), excluding leases, increased by 159.0% to N202.4 billion while also recording positive free cash flow (FCF) of N209.9 billion.
Commenting on the impressive performance, the elated Chief Executive Officer of the Yello brand, Dr Karl Toriola, said: “We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter of 2025, which reflects the continued execution of our strategic priorities and
the resilience of demand for our services.
“Building on the momentum from Q4 2024, our Q1 results place us firmly on the path to restoring profitability and achieving a positive net asset position within the current financial year, while increasing our investments to improve network and service quality.”
He added: “Although macroeconomic uncertainties persist, we are encouraged by the relative stability of the naira during the period and the moderation in inflation following the
rebasing of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in January 2025.
“The exchange rate remained relatively stable at N1,537/US$ at the end of March 2025, while reported inflation was 24.2% MTN Nigeria Communications Plc.”
Toriola disclosed that during the quarter, “we received regulatory approval for price adjustments, a critical enabler to sustain ongoing investment in the industry and maintain the quality of service for our customers. This has empowered us to accelerate network investments with N202.4 billion in capex (up 159%), focused on boosting capacity and improving user experience.”
He added: “We also continued to explore efficiency-enhancing opportunities through infrastructure-sharing partnerships.
According to him, a key milestone was the agreement between MTN Group and Airtel Africa to collaborate on passive infrastructure in Nigeria, enabling accelerated coverage and driving network cost efficiencies.
He said, “Our commercial performance remained strong, supported by sustained investment in network capacity, solid demand, and proactive customer value management (CVM).”
Toriola revealed MTN Nigeria commenced phased implementation of the new tariff structure in mid-February 2025 across our data and voice bundles, with the majority of adjustments taking effect in March.
He added that the full impact on usage and revenue is expected from Q2, “early indicators suggest continued resilience in customer demand, aided by our targeted CVM initiatives.”
“Our fintech strategy recalibration was well-advanced during the quarter, with a deliberate focus on enhancing the quality of our ecosystem. Although this led to a 25.7% decline in our active wallet base to 2.1 million compared to December 2024, it enabled us to onboard more high-value customers and improve float levels, thereby enhancing the overall health and sustainability of the ecosystem.
“As part of our long-term ambition to drive financial inclusion, we are launching a rural penetration strategy aimed at expanding access to financial services for underserved and financially excluded communities. We remain committed to improving the quality and engagement of our wallet base, while accelerating the development of advanced fintech services.
“These efforts are aligned with our strategic objective to build a more robust, inclusive, and scalable digital financial ecosystem.”
