MTN reports 17.2% nine-month service-revenue growth
The group reports growth in constant-currency terms, while South African service revenue was flat in the third quarter.
MTN Group reported a 17.2% increase in service revenue to R176.2 billion in constant-currency terms for the nine months ended 30 September 2026.
Its trading update dated 9 November separates that nine-month performance from the third quarter alone, when group service revenue grew 16.6%.
Group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, rose 22.9% to R86 billion over nine months. The EBITDA margin reached 47.9%, an increase of 2.8 percentage points.
South African revenue remains subdued
MTN South Africa's service revenue was flat in the third quarter and increased 1% over nine months. The company cited pressure on prepaid voice, lower mobile termination rates and changes to its prepaid customer mix.
South African third-quarter EBITDA nevertheless grew 7%, with a margin of 38.1%. MTN attributed the improvement partly to cost measures.
The group pointed to Nigeria and Ghana as contributors to growth. The figures describe operating performance through September, not a new tariff announcement or a forecast of customer bills.
Archive photograph of an MTN-branded phone shop in South Africa, taken on 10 April 2003; not a photograph of the results announcement or evidence of current shop services. Photo: Ken Banks, kiwanja.net / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MTN_Mobile_south_africa_shop.jpg . Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ . WebP display versions; thumbnails may be cropped and resized.