Following a N519.1 billion loss in the first half of 2024, MTN Nigeria reported an N414.9 billion net profit in the first half of 2025, indicating a strong and notable turnaround in first-half earnings.
“Six months to June 30, Nigeria’s macroeconomic conditions showed notable improvements, including a relatively stable naira, improved foreign exchange (forex) liquidity, and easing inflationary pressures,” stated Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria.
This comes after a period of recent economic unrest during which some South African businesses experienced losses due to foreign currencies, particularly from their activities in Nigeria.
We produced robust growth in service revenue (56% year-over-year), building on the momentum from the first quarter. Strong demand, proactive customer value management, and pricing adjustments—mostly in the second quarter—were the key drivers of this. At Thursday’s interim results release, he stated, “We accelerated investment in our network to enhance capacity in order to reinforce this.”
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According to him, they were keeping up their efficiency efforts to hasten the company’s return to profitability.
The group is “firmly on track to restore our balance sheet to a positive net asset position by the end of the third quarter,” he added, adding that the guidance for the 2025 full financial year was increased due to the excellent first-half performance.
Regarding regulations, an industry directive was put into place that limits third-party agents to one SIM registration per client, with the exception of agents who have been designated as strategic partners. Although the gross connection growth rate might be momentarily slowed, SIM registration quality would increase, which would benefit the industry’s overall expansion.
Despite the effects of the new SIM registration rules that were implemented in the first quarter, the number of mobile users increased to 84.7 million, with a net gain of 3.8 million in the first half.
Data traffic increased 41.2% year over year, driven by a 3.3 million increase in active data users to over 51 million.
The second quarter benefited greatly from the phased implementation of new price modifications for voice and data bundles.
“It is pleasing to note that the demand for our services remained robust, resulting in robust service revenue growth during the period,” he stated.
In July 2025, the $240 million Dabengwa Tier 3 Data Center’s first phase was opened. In West Africa, the multi-phase data center project will grow to be the biggest of its kind.
The group’s national roaming arrangement with Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (9Mobile) was approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
“To further market inclusion and the NCC’s vision of a fully connected Nigeria.” In light of this, we have started the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) onboarding process on our network,” Tariola stated.
About 562 000 new users joined the fintech strategy in the second quarter, increasing the total number of active wallets to 2.7 million.
He claimed that by using our partner network to draw in more high-value users, we were able to maintain a steady increase in customer deposits, which by June 2025 had nearly quadrupled from December 2024.
The updated IHS tower lease arrangement, relative naira stability, and advancements in efficiency initiatives all helped to lessen cost constraints. To N1.2 trillion, earnings before interest tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 119.5%. By the end of December 2024, retained earnings had improved to negative N192.9 billion from negative N607.5 billion.
“With the help of a more stable macroeconomic and regulatory environment, ongoing demand for our services, the advantages of recent price adjustments, and network investments, we anticipate maintaining strong operational and financial growth momentum in the second half,” he stated.
