MTN profits grow to Shs354b 

Telecom giant, MTN, registered a 21.1 percent growth in profits after tax to Shs354.4b in the nine months to September from Shs292.6b in the same period last year. 

The performance, which is contained in the financial results released yesterday, MTN said was due to improvement in the macroeconomic environment.  

Ms Sylvia Mulinge, the MTN chief executive officer, said the telecom had maintained a positive growth momentum in the nine months, on account of solid commercial execution and improved performance of the current macro-economic environment.

Over the nine months, total revenue rose to Shs1.9 trillion compared to Shs1.6 trillion, reflecting a growth of Shs3b, while assets grew to Shs4.2 trillion, driven by strong performance of both GSM and Fintech businesses. 

The telecom also indicated that during the period mobile subscriptions increased by 13.9 percent to 19m, registering strong growth in voice revenue, which rose by 10.4 percent to Shs828.3b. 

However, voice contribution to service revenue continued to reduce, declining slightly to 44.7 percent from 45 percent. 

Fintech revenue grew by 18.1 percent to ShsShs555.6b, supported by person-to-person money transfers and an increase in Fintech subscribers by 9.7 percent to 11.6m.   

The segment has been growing due to adaptation of cashless payments, which rose by 57.7 percent to Shs96.5 trillion from Shs65.7 trillion, while advanced revenues grew by 24.6 percent from 22 percent.

During the period, data revenue continued to grow, increasing by 22 percent to Shs450.3b supported by improvements in data value packages, which saw active data users grow by 23 percent to 7.5 million, while MBs per active user increased by 20 percent. 

MTN also noted that during the period, digital revenues grew by 130 percent, supported by growth in content value added services and enterprise digital solutions supported by Application Programming Interface. 

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