For the first half of 2024, MTN Nigeria saw a 2.9% increase in subscribers, reaching 79.4 million, despite a drop in user numbers earlier in the year.
The company’s fintech division grew its revenue by 11% mainly due to its airtime lending service, Xtratime, and a rise in mobile money usage. Active MoMo PSB wallets grew by 73.9% to 5.5 million.
Service revenue also rose by 32.6% to ₦1.5 trillion. However, the company faced significant forex losses of ₦887.7 billion, resulting in a net loss of ₦519.1 billion, a sharp increase from ₦85.6 billion in H1 2023.
MTN removed 8.6 million subscribers to comply with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) regulations but managed to reduce the impact of the NCC’s NIN-SIM directive.
CEO Karl Toriola noted that MoMo’s wallet growth is recovering from earlier disruptions due to NIN requirements. In April 2024, MTN MoMo expanded its services to 10 additional countries and added 25 new wallet corridors. Transactions in its fintech ecosystem grew by 33.4%.
Recently, MTN had to reverse a decision to disconnect subscribers with fewer than five lines linked to unverified NINs, following the regulator’s instructions to give users more time for verification.
On July 30, 2024, MTN closed all its offices and customer service centers in Nigeria after customer protests over disconnected lines. In Lagos, protests led to police intervention to restore order.
MTN is investing over $1 billion to support national priorities and enhance lives, and it is working on improving its financial position through tariff adjustments and reducing USD exposure. The company hopes that renegotiations with IHS Towers will aid in its recovery.
