MTN Group returns to profit in 2025 as subscriber base passes 300 million

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Operators; 16 March 2026; 6653 views

MTN Group hailed its full-year 2025 performance as “exceptional”, reporting a return to profit and surpassing the milestone of 300 million customers, driven largely by strong growth in its Nigerian and Ghanaian businesses.

In a statement, the operator pointed to strong commercial outcomes led by MTN Nigeria and MTN Ghana as key contributors to the year’s performance.

Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita described the company’s 2025 performance as “excellent”, adding that the operator is now transitioning to its next strategic phase, Ambition 2030, after achieving its target of connecting 300 million customers by 2025.

“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,” Mupita said.

According to figures released by the group, MTN ended the year with 307 million voice subscribers, 172 million data users, and 70 million mobile money customers. The operator invested ZAR38 billion (around US$2.3 billion) in capital expenditure to expand network capacity, extend coverage and improve service quality.

The company reported profit before tax of ZAR47.4 billion for the year.

Network usage also continued to grow strongly. Data traffic increased by 27% year-on-year, while average monthly data consumption per user rose from 10.8GB in 2024 to 12.5GB in 2025.

MTN attributed part of this increase to the rapid expansion of its fintech platform, which saw transaction volumes rise 15% to more than 23 billion transactions, with a total transaction value of around US$500 billion.

During the year, the group expanded broadband coverage to 94% of the population across its African markets, while also claiming to have reduced the cost of data for consumers by 14%. MTN said its operations contributed ZAR150 billion in economic and social value across the continent.

Improving macroeconomic conditions also supported the operator’s financial performance. Service revenue rose 22.7% to ZAR218 billion, underpinned by strong revenue growth in Nigeria (54.9%) and Ghana (35.9%), the company said.