Subscriber-base increase pushes MTN Nigeria’s revenue to N1.2trn in 2019

MTN Nigeria says it realised N1.2 trillion from voice call, data and value-added services offered to Nigerians.

This is compared to the N1.04 trillion recorded in 2018.

In its full-year 2019 financial result released on Friday, the telco announced that its profit after tax grew by 38.8%, hitting N202.1 billion.

MTN is Nigeria’s largest telecommunications company; boasting of 64 million subscribers.

Commenting on the result, Ferdi Moolman, MTN’s chief executive officer, said: “I am pleased with our performance in 2019 which demonstrates the progress we have made in the implementation of our bright strategy.

“Despite a challenging operating environment, we continued to deliver double-digit growth in service revenue in line with our medium-term guidance. Voice revenue growth remained healthy and data revenue continued to accelerate.

“Following the completion of the SIM re-registration exercise in Q3 2019, we recorded 2.7 million net additions in Q4.

“We added 5.3 million new smartphones to our network, bringing smartphone penetration to 41.8% of our base, while data traffic rose bu 85.8%. Our interventions in the year helped to drive a 42.4% increase in data revenue for the year.”

According to Moolman, data services contributed 18.8% to service revenue up 3.9 percentage points from 14.9% in 2018.

The CEO said MTN Nigeria has plans to invest N600 billion in the country.

“This investment will enable us to accelerate our 4G network expansion, deepen population coverage and support the federal government’s broadband initiative,” he explained.

Acknowledging the resolution of the tax dispute with the attorney-general of the federation, Moolman said the company looks forward to “maintaining good relationships with all regulatory authorities”.