MTN has released its consolidated financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2018.
The company stated that group service revenue was up 10.2%, while its data revenue increased by 26.7%.
Subscriber numbers for the group were measured at 223.4 million in the period, with 71.2 million active data users.
EBITDA was up 17.0%, while capex was up by 20.0%, said MTN.
South Africa
MTN South Africa’s operations also reported positive numbers, with service revenue up 2.9%.
Data revenue increased by 13.5%, while digital revenue increased by 17.9%, said MTN.
EBITDA grew 5.7% to R7.4 billion, while capex increased by 12.5%.
“MTN South Africa reported improved profitability on a strong consumer business, supported by our CVM initiatives. However, growth in service revenue was below expectations on the slow turnaround of the enterprise business,” said MTN.
“Despite this, we started to see a stabilisation of enterprise towards the end of the second quarter after the appointment of new leadership.”
It added that data usage was driven by the strong uptake of social media bundles, while digital revenue grew on demand for Xtratime and gaming.
In terms of the main customer segments, prepaid service revenue increased by 2.5%, while post-paid service revenue declined by 2.5%.
Subscriber numbers increased in South Africa overall, going up 2.2% to 30.2 million
Network improvements
MTN and Vodacom have been locked in a “best network in SA” battle this year, and MTN reiterated its aim to continue to improve its network.
“We signed a deal to provide wholesale roaming services to Cell C, which will lead to incremental growth in revenue and EBITDA from the fourth quarter,” added MTN.
MTN Group CEO Rob Shuter said they had an encouraging first half of 2018, with an acceleration in the second quarter “supported by an improved operational performance across many markets”.
This was led by Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa, he said.
