MTN Nigeria Communications Plc returned to profitability in the first half of 2025, reporting an after-tax profit of ₦414.9 billion ($270.4 million), a turnaround from a loss of ₦519.1 billion ($338.3 million) in the same period of last year.
The telco giant’s performance—its highest half-year profit in at least eight years—comes just a day after it became the most valuable company on the Nigerian stock market, with its market capitalisation crossing the ₦9 trillion mark and surpassing Airtel Africa.
By Wednesday’s close of trading, its share price had risen by 4.32% to ₦471.10 ($0.31), pushing its valuation to ₦9.89 trillion ($6.44 billion), edging closer to the ₦10 trillion milestone.
“We are excited by the progress made in the first half of 2025, reflecting the successful execution of our strategic priorities,” said CEO Karl Toriola in the company’s earnings report. “Building on first-quarter momentum, we delivered strong growth in service revenue during the review period.”
Toriola credited the performance to robust demand, proactive customer value management, and Q2 price adjustments. “To support this growth, we accelerated network investments to improve capacity, coverage, and service quality.”
The report added that service revenue jumped 54.6% year-on-year to ₦2.4 trillion ($1.56 billion), driven by strong performance across data, voice, fintech, and enterprise services.
Data revenue surged 69.2% to ₦1.23 trillion ($801.6 million)—the first time it crossed the ₦1 trillion threshold—on the back of increased user numbers, higher traffic, and revised pricing. Average data usage per subscriber rose 26.3% to 13.2GB, while total data traffic climbed 41.2%.
Voice revenue increased by 40.3%, bolstered by a growing subscriber base and customer-centric initiatives. The enterprise segment recorded a 39.7% revenue rise, supported by growth in fixed connectivity, data services, and converged enterprise solutions. Toriola also highlighted the expansion of MTN’s enterprise offerings, including the new MTN Cloud platform, following the launch of the Tier III Dabengwa Data Centre.
Fintech revenue surged by 71.8%, fueled by the strong performance of airtime lending (Xtratime), growth in advanced services, and increased deposits from high-value customers. Customer deposits rose nearly fivefold compared to December 2024.
Despite the revenue boost, operating expenses rose by 14.8%, although the company reported savings of ₦114 billion ($74.3 million) from renegotiated tower leases and other cost-efficiency efforts.
“We also continued to execute efficiency initiatives to further accelerate the recovery
of our profitability,” Toriola said.
The figures were originally reported in naira, and have been converted using $1 = ₦1,534.5 as of July 30, 2025.
