JOHANNESBURG - MTN Nigeria gained 3.9million new mobile subscribers during the nine months to the end of September, bringing its total subscribers to 75million and underscoring the significant demand for mobile services in Africa’s most populous country.
MTN Nigeria, MTN’s biggest market, said it connected 5.5million new users to the internet for the nine months under review, bringing its active data subscribers to 30.7million.
The group said the subscriber growth provided support for voice revenue, which accounted for 67.2percent of service revenue and rose by 4.2percent.
“The key drivers for this were our expanded customer acquisition touchpoints, rural telephony initiatives and revamped acquisition offer using our customer value management toolkit,” said MTN Nigeria. Service revenue increased by 13.9percent, and data revenue rose by 57percent with an increase in data usage and traffic.
“The performance in data was delivered through a combination of increased subscribers, usage MB per user and ultimately traffic, supported by increased network capacity and 4G penetration,” said the group.
Revenue from digital services rose by 114.3percent albeit from a low base driven by the increased uptake of enhanced digital offerings, supported by the group’s active base of 1.5million users and partnerships with digital content providers.
Fintech services revenue was 28.3percent higher on the back of solid growth of MTN Xtratime, the service that allows customers to borrow airtime on credit when they run out of airtime and payback on their next recharge.
Data traffic rose by 135.6percent year-on-year and average usage by 70.4percent.
“We added 2.9million new smartphones to our network in the quarter, bringing smartphone penetration to 45.2percent of our base, up from 43.5percent in the second quarter and 41.7percent in the third quarter of 2019,” said MTN Nigeria.
The group expanded its Mobile Money (MoMo) agent network with the addition of more than 90000 registered agents during the September quarter and broadened service offerings to include bill payments as well as bank deposit and withdrawals through the agents.
The group said at the end of the third quarter there were 311770 registered MoMo agents, surpassing its year-end target and processing more than 29.4million transactions from an active base of 3.4 million subscribers.
MoMo facilitates the transfer of money, settling bills and paying for purchases from the customers’ cellphones.
Earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortisation rose by 9.1 percent, and the telco delivered a free cash flow of 303.6 billion nairas (about R13bn).
MTN this week announced Karl Toriola as the chief executive designate for MTN Nigeria after current chief executive Ferdi Moolman was appointed the new group risk officer.
BUSINESS REPORT