Whereas MTN Mobile Money has had an edge over the years, Airtel Money is fighting hard, and it is catching up pretty fast. Photo / File
Forget the boardrooms and flashy tech summits. Uganda’s most important Fintech battle is unfolding silently - on the phones of boda riders, market vendors, teachers, and students.
In the early 2000s, Uganda experienced a revolution - MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money – with telecoms starting Fintech units as sideshows.
Over a decade later, MTN and Airtel have quietly built parallel banking systems that anyone with a Sim card understands their importance.
This has been even easier for them, especially in a country where formal banking remains out of reach for many.
Mobile money has become the everyday bank, used to save, send money, pay bills, and even borrow.
And it’s evolving as the push for cashless payments heightens.
Mobile wallets are now handling everything from school fees and groceries to taxes and hospital bills.
As these platforms become more embedded in daily life, they gain more influence - and unlock new possibilities: loans, merchant payments, savings, even insurance.
MTN Mobile Money has long been the frontrunner, powered by a larger network and first-mover advantage.
But Airtel Money is fighting back - cutting fees, launching services such as Airtel Money Pay, and teaming up with banks and startups.
It’s no longer a one-horse race. This is now a tight contest with billions of shillings on the line.
Both players operate under separate legal entities: MTN Mobile Money is part of MTN, which is listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange.
While Airtel Money trades under Airtel Mobile Commerce Uganda, owned by Airtel Africa Plc.
The two were carved out of their parent companies after the enactment of the National Payment Systems Act.
Now they operate as independent legal entities under the regulation of Bank of Uganda.
MTN Mobile Money answers to local shareholders, while Airtel Mobile Commerce answers to Airtel Africa Plc.
But both are placing big bets on one thing: Uganda’s digital financial future.
Edge over an edge
When it comes to revenue, MTN Mobile Money leads the pack, raking in Shs981.94b in 2024 - about 10 percent more than Airtel Money.
The lead likely stems from MTN’s larger user base of 13.8 million customers and its early start, which helped it plant roots deeper and wider in Uganda’s mobile money landscape.
But Airtel gets the last laugh on profitability. With a profit after tax of Shs310.96b, Airtel outperformed MTN by nearly 20 percent.
That points to a leaner, more cost-efficient operation - possibly spending less to earn more.
But on the balance sheet, MTN Mobile Money still wears the crown.
Its Shs1.63 trillion in total assets outshines Airtel’s Shs1.01 trillion, giving it more financial muscle to expand, lend, or roll out new services.
And customer deposits follow the same trend: MTN holds Shs1.37 trillion in mobile money balances - almost double Airtel’s Shs838.2b.
So, who is winning?
MTN Mobile Money has the scale, but Airtel Money has the margins - and in a market that is growing this fast – there is still plenty of runway for both.
What are investors missing out?
MTN Mobile Money – a subsidiary of the listed holding MTN Uganda – handed over a whopping Shs303.22b in dividends in 2024.
That is nearly 60 percent of the total dividend MTN Uganda paid out that year (Shs505.99b).
In other words, mobile money isn’t just supporting the MTN house – it is holding up much of the roof.
Now imagine this: if MTN’s mobile money arm was listed on its own company, it would rank as the second-biggest dividend payer on the USE, just after Airtel, which paid out Shs315b last year.
That’s how profitable it’s become - and how central it is to MTN Uganda’s value.
Meanwhile, Airtel Money paid an estimated Shs291.7b in dividends, just a notch lower than MTN Mobile Money.
And if it were a listed entity, it would rank fourth in dividend payments.
For perspective, Airtel Uganda’s telecom business paid Shs315b in dividends, only slightly more than its mobile money arm.
This signals something important: While Airtel’s voice and data business is still the cash cow, Airtel Money is fast becoming a co-pilot - and a profitable one at that.
Bottom line? Mobile money isn’t just a sideshow anymore - for both telecoms, it’s a core business - and it’s paying off.
Fintech dividends
In 2024, MTN Uganda paid out the largest dividend on the USE - Shs505.99b - thanks largely to its Fintech juggernaut, MTN Mobile Money.
MTN was followed by Airtel with a payout of Shs315b
Other listed companies, including Stanbic Holdings and Bank of Baroda, paid out Shs300b and Shs60b, respectively.
Therefore, mobile money units aren’t just cash-flow machines; they are dividend titans, and if listed separately, MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money would instantly become some of the most exciting stocks.
It’s also a clear sign of the seismic shift in telecom business models. Fintech has moved from add-on to core, and now, it is fuelling investor returns.
Even on profitability, MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money are now racing ahead of majority of banks.
For instance, in the period ended December 2024, Airtel Money posted Shs311b in profit, while MTN Mobile Money posted Shs260b.
Compare this to top banks: Absa – Shs177.87b, dfcu – Shs72b, Housing Finance Bank – Shs71.13b, Equity Bank – Shs20.45b, and Standard Chartered - Shs19.09b.
Only Stanbic and Centenary Bank, which posted profits of Shs478b and Shs342.3b in 2024, respectively, still hold positions ahead of mobile money entities.
One thing that has made mobile money appealing is its speed, simplicity, and near-frictionless nature.
While banks are burdened by overhead and compliance drag-ons, Fintech floats ahead.
A research note from Crested Capital notes that policy makers should consider localisation, of which Bank of Uganda has now licensed 43.
“This can be achieved through public listing, as is the case with Uganda Communication Commission national telecom operator licensees,” the note says.
MTN Mobile Money made Shs982b in revenue in 2024, which is about 31 percent of MTN Uganda’s total income.
Airtel Money made Shs892b, and if it had been part of Airtel Uganda’s initial public offer, it would have increased the company’s total revenue by about 31 percent.
Both companies are growing steadily
From 2022 to 2024, MTN Mobile Money and Airtel Money revenues, profits, deposits, and assets all increased.
While MTN Mobile Money grew a bit faster in revenue, profit, and total assets, Airtel Money had more deposits and assets overall.
It is also more (49 percent) efficient than MTN Mobile Money (37 percent) in turning revenue into profit before taxes.
Airtel Money again (35 percent) keeps more money after expenses than MTN Mobile Money (25 percent), and still gets better returns from its assets.
However, MTN Mobile Money's return on equity is very high (592 percent), likely because it has less equity (money from shareholders).
The unit even paid out more than it earned (121 percent) as dividends, while Airtel paid out 94 percent, also high but less than it earned.
In short, Airtel Money is slightly more efficient and profitable, while MTN Mobile Money is growing fast and contributing big to its parent company.
Sylvia Mulinge says the transaction that will separate Fintechs from the listed company "is structured in a way that will protect minority shareholders". Photo / File
Plan to separate mobile money
Everyone can see it now that mobile money is a gold mine. But here is the rub - the owners know it too, and they are moving fast to tighten their grip before public shareholders get too comfortable.
Airtel was the first to pull away. When the law required telecoms to separate Fintech units, Airtel spun off its mobile money arm to remain with Airtel Africa - listed in London. This meant that when Airtel listed on the USE in 2023, its Fintech cash cow was not part of the listed company.
MTN’s playbook had been slightly different, but it is headed in the same direction.
When MTN listed in 2021, mobile money was part of the package. But that came with a catch. Buried in the fine print of the listing prospectus was “by June 2025, the company plans to separate its Fintech unit from the listed telecom entity”.
The goal? Bundle MTN’s Fintech businesses across Africa into one mega-Fintech and court external capital to scale even faster. It’s a strategic masterstroke for MTN Group.
Local investors fear being left out, especially if the split creates a private unit for mobile money, leaving current shareholders in the cold. A source at USE, who spoke on condition of anonymity, framed it this way: “Right now, mobile money profits flow up to MTN, and shareholders benefit through dividends. If they extract mobile money, will the listed company still get a cut? Or will it be ring-fenced away? It’s not yet clear.”
The transaction is complex. What happens to dividend flows? Will minority investors in MTN still get their slice? Or does the golden goose start laying eggs elsewhere?
MTN has been quiet about the matter, but early this year, its chief executive officer Sylvia Mulinge, said “the transaction is structured in a way that will protect minority shareholders.”
Simon Mwebaze, the Cornerstone Asset Managers chief executive officer, warns that this kind of structural shift could tilt investor confidence.
“The separation could change MTN’s value proposition on the exchange. In the long term, the real competition isn’t even local. If something like SpaceX enters Uganda, it could leapfrog everything. They don’t need towers or fibre - they beam internet from the sky,” he says.
Add to that the changing consumer behaviour. Voice revenues are under pressure, as more users switch to social network calls and bundled data deals. That is great for customers, but not so much for telecom bottom lines.
“Cheaper data means more people use WhatsApp instead of voice,” says Mwebaze. “And bundling voice, SMS, and data may preserve users, but it lowers average revenue per user.”
What comes next?
All eyes are now on how MTN structures its 2025 Mobile Money spin-off - and whether retail investors get to ride along or get left behind.
Mobile money has become too important to ignore, but too tempting for parent companies to share. The big question is whether the coming shake-up will deepen Uganda’s capital markets - or quietly drain them.
