MTN Data Subscribers Rises to 36.8 Million, Makes N948 Billion Revenue in Six Months

Bukola Olanrewaju August 4, 2022 TECHNOLOGY, Telecom Leave a comment

MTN Communications Plc (MTN Nigeria) has revealed its data subscribers increased by 13.2% to 36.8 million in six months. The telecom company noted that over 2.5 million active users were added in H1 2022.

Announcing its unaudited results for the half-year ended 30 June 2022, the telco disclosed mobile subscribers also Increased by 7.6% to 74.1 million while adding 5.7 million subscribers in H1 2022.

The report noted that MTN Nigeria deployed capex of N311.6 billion to accelerate the rollout of our 4G network, which now covers 75.3% (compared to 65.1% in H1 2021) of the population and accounts for 77.9% of data traffic (compared to 67.2% in H1 2021).

In addition, MTN’s total service revenue for the first six months was N948 billion, a 20% spike from 791 bilion in the first half of last year.

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The company increased revenue from contracts with customers in all ramifications with Voice generating the most revenue; Voice, Data and SMS saw improved revenue from N412 billion, N229 billion, and N22 billion to N417 billion, N348 billion, and N29 billion.

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In addition, revenue attributed to other items such as intercommunication and roaming jumped from N83 billion to N94 billion, Handset and accessories rose from N964 million to N2 billion, and Digital spiked from N8 billion to N11 billion, and value-added services were up from N31 billion to N39 billion.

MTN Nigeria has recorded a 28.1 per cent rise in profit after tax (PAT) to N181.6 billion in the first half of the year, with profit before tax (PBT) up by 24.9 per cent to N268.6 billion and earnings per share (EPS) rising by 28.1 per cent to N8.92.

According to the company the capital expenditure (Capex) rose by 67.1 per cent to N311.6 billion (up 78.6 per cent to N204.5 billion, excluding the right of use assets.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 22.1% to N509.3 billion.

Speaking on this, MTN Nigeria CEO, Karl Toriola said “Since the directive from the NCC for all operators to restrict outgoing calls for subscribers whose SIMs are not associated with NINs, approximately 10 million of those affected have submitted their NIN, of which about 2.6 million have been reactivated following verification by National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

“We maintained strong commercial momentum with a net addition of 5.7 million mobile subscribers in H1. This reflects a pleasing acceleration in the run-rate of monthly net additions during Q2, following the initial impact of the restriction of outgoing calls placed on subscribers who had not submitted their National Identity Number (NIN) as at 4 April 2022. Our aggressive drive for gross connections supported this recovery as we ramped up SIM registration and NIN enrolment capacity.

“We added 2.5 million active data subscribers in H1
as we continued to drive data conversion from the new and existing subscriber base. In addition, we continue to enhance the quality and coverage of our network to accommodate the increasing demand for data.

“As part of our work to build sustainable societies, we have made good progress on our rural telephony journey. During H1 2022, we added 370 rural sites, bringing the total to 1,553. We remain committed to driving increased telecommunications access to the unconnected.

“MTN Nigeria Foundation continued its programs, training over 900 youths across six states in the 2022 edition of the ICT and business skills training, of which 200 people received equipment grants totalling N40 million. In addition, the Foundation completed and handed over fully furnished ICT Labs in 27 public secondary schools in 23 States, installed solar-powered boreholes in 16 states, and upgraded seven primary health care centres across the country.

“Finally, we will continue executing our strategy to deliver service revenue growth in line with medium-term guidance. As we manage the increased pressures in the macroeconomy and our business, we will continue to focus on extracting efficiencies and driving operating leverage to support growth in earnings, cash flow and returns over the medium term”.