Tariff Hike Pushes MTN’s Data Revenue To N529.44bn

MTN Nigeria Plc’s data revenue rose by 51.5 per cent to N529.44bn in the first quarter of 2025 from N349.5bn in 2024, driven by a recent hike in tariffs, active user base growth and higher data consumption.

The company, during the quarter, received regulatory approval for price adjustments.

The Chief Executive Officer of the telecom firm, Karl Toriola, said the commercial momentum drove broad-based revenue growth across core segments, including data, voice, digital services and fintech.

He noted that service revenue grew by 40.5 per cent, supported by the late-quarter tariff adjustments.

Cost pressures were mitigated by our revised IHS tower lease agreement, which reduced foreign exchange (forex) exposure and capped price increases, as well as improved underlying expense efficiency initiatives.

As a result, earnings increased by 65.9 per cent. Notably, it said the stability in the exchange rate in Q1 versus December 2024 helped reduce forex losses.

He said, “Overall, we reported a significant turnaround in our bottom line, with a profit after tax of N133.7bn versus a loss of N392.7bn in the prior year.

“As a result, our retained earnings improved to negative N474.1bn (December 2024: negative N607.5bn) and shareholders’ equity to negative N324.6bn (December 2024: negative N458.0bn).

“We also delivered a positive free cash flow of N209.9bn, representing a decrease of 54.8 per cent, mainly due to the accelerated capex in Q1 and the elevated prior-year FCF base due to larger naira depreciation and accrual build-up in that period.

“We expect a progressive recovery in FCF as the full impact of the tariff increase is realised.”

He noted that following regulatory approval for price adjustments for the industry, the company accelerated capex deployment to support the stronger-than-expected growth in data traffic and enhance service quality and user experience.

“Despite the higher capex, we achieved a positive free cash flow of N209.9bn, demonstrating disciplined capital allocation and strong cash generation,” he said.

He noted that data traffic increased by 46.4 per cent, while average usage per subscriber grew by 29.5 per cent to 12.8 GB.

“We added approximately 4.0 million smartphones onto the network during the quarter, bringing smartphone penetration to 60.7 per cent, underscoring rising demand for high-speed data services.

‘Our 4G network coverage expanded to 82.7 per cent of the population (up 0.2 pp), while 5G coverage remained stable at 12.7 per cent, as we prioritised enhancing capacity over broadening coverage during the period,” he said.

Tariff Hike Pushes MTN’s Data Revenue To N529.44bn is first published on The Whistler Newspaper