MTN Ghana has disclosed that it made a profit of GH¢2.77 billion for the first nine months of 2023, which majority of the profit coming from Mobile Money (MoMo).
According to the biggest telecommunication provider in the country, the latest profit represents a 32% year-on-year growth within the period, per its financial performance update as of the end of September.
MTN delivered a 36.0% year-on-year increase in service revenue, driven mainly by growth in voice, data, and mobile money services.
MTN said its growth was underpinned by the continued execution of Ambition 2025 and sustained investments in capital expenditure to support improvements in service quality and the expansion of network capacity and coverage.
The telecom company’s mobile voice revenue grew by 14.5% year-on-year to ¢2.7 billion. It noted that the National Communications Authority’s (NCA) directive on SIM disconnections continued to impact the subscriber base, resulting in a 9.3% year-on-year decrease to 25.8 million.
It said revenue from voice services declined from 33.4% to 28.1%. Its revenue from data services grew by 47.6% year-on-year to ¢4.1 billion. The company attributed it to a 2.7% year-on-year increase in the number of active users and continued increases in MB consumed per active user per month (+36.0% year-on-year).
This led to data traffic rising by 39.6% year-on-year, the company said. Also, it said the contribution of data revenue to service revenue increased from 39.5% to 42.8% year-on-year.
On its mobile money services, the company said revenue increased by 51.6% year-on-year to GH¢2.1 billion.
It noted that the rise was underpinned by the growth of 63.4% year-on-year in cash-out revenue, a 63.2% year-on-year increase in advanced services revenue and 15.0% year-on-year growth in peer-to-peer (P2P) revenue.
It added that the contribution of MoMo revenue to service revenue increased from 19.1% to 21.3% year-on-year. Its digital revenue, however, decreased by 15.0% year-on-year to GH¢96.3 million.
Positive Turn-Around In The Third Quarter
However, the company said it observed a positive turn-around in the third quarter, with a 3.5% quarter-on-quarter growth, and expects it to continue through the fourth quarter and beyond.
The company’s Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 32.6% year-on-year to ¢5.4 billion with a margin decline of 1.5 percentage points to 56.0% due to the impact of elevated inflation.
“We remain committed to executing our expense efficiency programme, the impact of which continues to reduce the full exposure of the current macroeconomic challenges on the business”, the company said.
For its outlook, the company said it will continue to invest to develop its platforms and improve its network and services to unlock value for stakeholders in line with our Ambition 2025 strategy.
“We will also keep exploring efficiency measures, preserving liquidity, and take steps to strengthen the balance sheet further against a background of uncertainties within the operating environment. Taking into consideration the macroeconomic uncertainties, MTN Ghana maintains its guidance of high-twenties (in percentage terms) growth in service revenue.”
MTN Ghana
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