New Telegraph

MTN’s revenue hits N1.3trn, profit rises to N205.2bn

Largest telecommunications by subscriber number in Nigeria, MTN, generated N1.3 trillion from voice and data services in 2020, the company’s financial statement has revealed. This showed impressive revenue growth of 15.1 per cent when compared with N1.1 trillion recorded by the telecom operator in 2019.

 

MTN’s increase in income was driven largely by revenue from data subscriptions, which increased significantly as more Nigerians subscribe to the internet. According to the company, data revenue rose by 51.2 per cent, with increased data usage and traffic.

 

“To accommodate this and enhance service quality, we focused on capacity upgrades and 4G population coverage, while expanding our investments in rural connectivity. Our 4G network now covers 60.1 per cent of the population, up from 43.8 per cent in 2019,” MTN stated.

 

The company disclosed that revenue from voice service grew by 5.9 per cent, noting, “although this was subdued in Q2 due to COVID-19 induced restrictions, we saw a pickup in momentum into H2.”

 

According to the 2020 audited results, the company’s profit after tax also increased by 0.9 per cent from N203.2 billion in 2019 to N205.2 billion in 2020. Commenting on the results, MTN Nigeria’s CEO, Ferdi Moolman said: “Our performance demonstrated the strong operational execution and resilience in our business. We connected 12.2 million new customers to our network, bringing our total subscriptions to 76.5 million.

 

“The introduction of additional customer registration requirements and suspension of the sale and activation of new SIMs towards the end of the year affected subscriber growth.

 

We remain committed to ensuring our subscriber records are updated with the National Identity Number (NIN) and continue working closely with the government, supporting their efforts by expanding capacity to provide NIN enrolment services across our customer interaction touchpoints.” Moolman added that active data users on the MTN network increased by 7.4 million to 32.6 million, supported by growth in gross connections and the expansion of its 4G network.

 

“Our mobile money (MoMo) business also continued to accelerate with a 269.2 per cent increase in the number of registered agents to over 395,000 and 4.7 million active subscribers from approximately 553,000 in 2019,” he said. Speaking on the impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on the business, Moolman described the year as “a challenging year for all.”

 

“The unprecedented disruption that the COVID- 19 pandemic caused the businesses and people we serve, challenged us in new and demanding ways. The impact continues to evolve.

 

Adoption of our data and digital services accelerated as lockdowns and gathering restrictions were imposed, and workfrom- home became the norm for many.

 

“As we navigated the fallout of the pandemic, adapting our processes and structures to the new realities, we acted swiftly to support the national response in a holistic way. This was encapsulated in our Y’ello Hope initiatives through which we provided support to our broad base of stakeholders to the value of approximately N25 billion,” he said.

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