Telecom
Nigeria Boosts MTN Group’s Subscriber Base Growth Despite Sanction
The MTN group added 2.5 million new subscribers in the third quarter of the year, boosted by a strong performance in its embattled Nigerian operations and robust growth out of Ghana. However, MTN SA lost subscribers during the quarter.
The group now has 225.4 million subscribers in 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East, following the sale of MTN Cyprus in September.
The quarterly update for the period ended 30 September, published yesterday, shows active data subscribers grew by five million quarter-on-quarter to 74.2 million. Active Mobile Money (MoMo) customers increased by 1.7 million quarter-on-quarter, to 25.8 million across the group.
“MTN recorded an improved operational performance in many markets in the third quarter. Group service revenue grew by 10% year-on-year, ahead of our medium-term target of upper-single-digit growth, supported by continued strong growth in voice and data revenue,” says MTN group president and CEO Rob Shuter.
“These results were delivered in challenging operating and currency conditions. Group outgoing voice revenue increased by 5.2% and data revenue increased by 23.9%.”
In SA, the group saw a 2.3% decline in subscribers quarter-on-quarter, to almost 29.5 million, but despite this, the South African operation grew service revenue by 3% year-on-year, edging closer to its medium-term target of mid-single-digit growth.
Local data and digital revenue increased by 12.5% and 9.9% respectively, while outgoing voice revenue declined by 8.4%.
“In a weak economy, consumers felt the pressure of a higher VAT rate, becoming increasingly price-sensitive. Prepaid service revenue increased 0.5% and postpaid service revenue increased by 1.9%,” the group adds.
At the end of the quarter, MTN South Africa had 23.7 million prepaid users (down 3.4% quarter-on-quarter), 2.9 million postpaid subscribers (up 2.1% quarter-on-quarter) and 2.8 million telemetry subscribers.
MTN says the Cell C roaming agreement is contributing positively towards revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and is expected to be fully implemented in line with its planned timelines.
“We are in consultation with ICASA on the implementation of the new data pricing regulations and are proactively implementing the various changes to which we have committed. We welcome the commitment by ICASA to license high-demand radio frequency spectrum by the end of March 2019,” the group says.
Shuter says the group benefited from the particularly strong performance of operations in Nigeria and Ghana, while some operations in the West and Central Africa region remained under pressure, including those of Ivory Coast and Cameroon.
MTN Ghana delivered a strong performance, driven by robust service revenue growth of 22.9% year-on-year. Ghana’s active subscribers grew by 3.5% quarter-on-quarter, to 17.1 million, and data revenue increased by 30.9% year-on-year. Digital revenue expanded by more than 28%, driven by MoMo. The group also successfully completed the listing of MTN Ghana.
Shuter says MTN Nigeria’s plans to list have been challenged by the recent Central Bank of Nigeria and attorney-general of the Federal Republic of Nigeria matters, but “MTN remains committed to the listing in Nigeria and work continues in this regard”.
Despite the issues in the territory, MTN Nigeria had an excellent quarter, increasing service revenue by 17.4% year-on-year. This was led by a 52.5% increase in data revenue and 21.5% increase in outgoing voice revenue.
MTN Nigeria’s subscribers grew by 1.5% quarter-on-quarter, to just over 56 million. MTN Nigeria reported 17.2 million active data subscribers, up 15.1% quarter-on-quarter, and 2.5 million MoMo customers, up 12.4% quarter-on-quarter.
Shuter says across the markets, MTN continued to invest in its networks and now has the leading network net promoter score in 10 of it markets. Reported capital expenditure to the end of September was R16.4 billion, a group capex intensity of 16.9%, he said.
“We continued to optimise our balance sheet structure and reduced our gross US dollar debt by approximately $400 million. This was supported by proceeds from the sale of MTN Cyprus of $303 million, the settlement of a loan from our Ugandan Tower Company of $34 million, as well as the proceeds from the MTN Ghana listing of $202 million received after the quarter’s end.”
Clydestone Ghana Plc has filed a writ of summons and statement of claim against MTN Ghana, MTN Group Limited and Mobile Money Fintech Limited, alleging unauthorized use of its intellectual property.
The company announced the court action at the Ghana Stock Exchange, confirming proceedings in the Commercial Division of the High Court of Ghana.
The case relates to work commissioned in 2007 that Clydestone alleges was later used without authorisation or compensation.
Clydestone said the claim involves proprietary intellectual property, confidential commercial information and operational methodology developed during the engagement. The company is seeking declarations, damages and equitable remedies.
In a statement, Clydestone said MTN Ghana engaged it in 2007 to develop a commercial and operational framework for a mobile money business.
“The work was developed and delivered by the company’s founder and Group CEO, Paul Jacquaye, and included a full mobile money ecosystem covering the commercial model, operational architecture, implementation methodology and business case.”
Clydestone said the work was commissioned on the understanding that a non-disclosure agreement and memorandum of understanding would be signed.
It alleges these agreements were not finalised despite repeated requests.
The company further alleges MTN Ghana later used its proprietary work and methodology without authorisation or compensation, including in MTN Mobile Money Ghana and other markets.
Clydestone said the alleged use has continued since the launch of MTN Mobile Money Ghana in 2009.
“The wrongful use of that work has been ongoing since 2009. What has changed is the availability of independently verifiable information that documents its scale and commercial significance,” the company said.
It cited the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 and MTN Ghana’s 2025 annual report as evidence of the platform’s scale.
According to Clydestone, the reports show approximately 19.3 million active users and annual revenue of about GHS 6.0 billion ($516m).
The company said it reviewed its records following these publications and concluded there were sufficient grounds to initiate legal proceedings.
It added that it has received no payment or acknowledgement for the work since December 2007, and that pre-action correspondence in 2026 received no substantive response.
“The Board of Directors has unanimously authorised the commencement of these proceedings,” the company said.
Jacquaye said: “This case is about accountability for commissioned intellectual property.
“When independent publications in 2025 and 2026 revealed the scale of the mobile money business, we reviewed all documentation relating to the original engagement and concluded these proceedings were necessary.”
MTN Group Limited, named as a defendant, had not commented at the time of publication.
In a development that underscores the fragile state of Nigeria’s telecommunications grid, an incident of infrastructure vandalism in Delta State has severely disrupted network connectivity, leaving thousands of subscribers stranded.
The breach, where a robber attacked the sites, occurred at an IHS-managed telecom node in the ASB region on July 8, 2026, immediately knocking 33 base stations offline across 2G, 3G, and 4G spectrums.
The situation in the region escalated drastically by morning when a separate fibre-optic cable cut severed primary transmission lines. Because the compromised node serves as a critical fibre convergence point, the secondary fibre cut triggered a cascading failure.
This secondary disruption ballooned the number of dark sites from 33 to 103, temporarily paralysing digital communications, banking, and commerce in the affected communities.
Industry sources reveal that the financial and logistical toll of such incidents is becoming unsustainable for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
Currently, network providers are utilising 20 per cent more spare parts than initially budgeted for the fiscal year.
This unpredictable depletion of technical reserves has stripped operators of their supply buffers, making inventory management and financial forecasting increasingly difficult for telecom executives.
Consequently, engineering teams have been forced to cannibalise materials originally designated for network expansion and new site rollouts just to perform emergency restorations on the damaged sites.
This diversion of resources significantly delays the rollout of new infrastructure, stifling the nation’s broader broadband penetration targets and stalling anticipated revenue generation for the telecom companies.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently noted an average of 1,744 weekly attacks on telecom infrastructure nationwide, including over 1,100 fibre cuts.
As operators endure protracted back-and-forth negotiations with insurance firms to cover these sudden hardware losses, stakeholders are intensifying calls for the strict enforcement of the Federal Government’s recent designation of telecom assets as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) to safeguard Quality of Service (QoS).
Viral rumors about a “Tesla Pi Phone” a new phone, being developed by Elon Musk, CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and SpaceX, are entirely fake.
AI Generated Tesla Pi Phone and Elon Musk
Instead, the tech giant said on Monday it has filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy the constellation by 2028.
It said the system would provide voice, messaging, data and emergency services.
A quick fact-check revealed that Tesla Inc. has never manufactured, developed, or released a smartphone.
Videos and articles claiming a release (often priced between $150 and $800 with solar charging or satellite-only connections) rely on AI-generated concept art and recycled internet hoaxes dating back to 2021.
Musk has only mentioned a phone in hypothetical remarks, stating Tesla would build one only if major app stores completely blocked or censored essential apps like X (formerly Twitter).
On Monday however, his company said that “Amazon looks forward to delivering on the promise of D2D [direct-to-device] connectivity, including to the millions of people living, travelling and working in places beyond the reach of existing networks today,”
The filing is the first step from Amazon into satellite mobile connections, which has until now been dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink service.
Musk’s group has signed partnerships with existing operators such as T-Mobile US and the UK’s Virgin Media O2 to provide phone services for customers where their conventional networks do not reach.
Starlink operates across more than 150 countries, offering high-speed internet connections through its constellation of satellites.
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