MTN Group delivers strong growth, solid cash generation and improved returns in the first half of 2026. As part of the Ambition 2030 strategy, the Group made progress on several initiatives, including its planned acquisition of tower company IHS Holdings and the introduction of a share buyback programme.
On a pro forma basis, MTN’s proposed transaction to buy the remaining shares in IHS is accretive to revenue, profit after tax and adjusted headline earnings per share. The transaction has received approval from various regulators, including Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. As part of the conditional approvals, MTN will sell down 30% of IHS Nigeria to local Nigerian investors, on an arms-length commercial basis and subject to market conditions. Subject to remaining regulatory approvals, MTN anticipates that the IHS transaction will close in the second half of 2026.
MTN announced a new share buyback programme targeting roughly 31 million ordinary shares, at a total cost of up to six billion rand. The buyback is set to continue for as long as it remains value-accretive to shareholders, subject to market conditions. It forms part of the shareholder remuneration framework unveiled under Ambition 2030, which sets out MTN’s commitment to distributing between 40% and 60% of equity free cash flow to shareholders via dividends or buybacks
READ ALSO: AMAZON OPENS NEW DELIVERY STATION IN PUERTO RICO
In the first six months of 2026 and in constant-currency terms, MTN Group service revenue grew by 17.5% to R115 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation before once-off items expanded by almost a quarter to R56 billion.
Growth was primarily driven by MTN Ghana, MTN Nigeria, MTN Uganda, MTN Côte d’Ivoire, MTN Cameroon and the wider portfolio, while MTN South Africa posted a more modest 1.5% rise in service revenue — a reflection of the short-term cost tied to deliberate steps taken to strengthen the quality of its extensive prepaid customer base. Notably, MTN SA’s service revenue growth accelerated in Q2 2026, climbing to 2.3% from just 0.7% in Q1 2026.
“The Group’s overall performance in the period reflects strong conversion of the commercial momentum we see across our markets into growth in earnings, cashflow and returns. We are encouraged by the record margins delivered in the period as well as the strong cash upstreaming from operations,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita, adding that MTN committed almost R20 billion in capital expenditure in H1 to expand the mobile network, connect more homes and invest in modernisation of IT across the business.
Macro conditions were largely favourable, with blended average inflation falling to 9.3% from 14.0% and MTN’s main market currencies stable against the US dollar. However, most MTN currencies weakened against the rand, weighing on rand-based earnings growth.
Underlying demand for MTN’s services remained strong. At 30 June 2026, MTN served 317.7 million customers across 19 markets. Of these, more than 179 million were active data users who boosted the traffic carried by MTN’s networks by nearly 23% to 14.3 petabytes.
The fintech ecosystem maintained strong momentum, with 70.8 million active Mobile Money users across the Group driving increased demand for secure, convenient services. This growth pushed the total value of fintech transactions up by more than a third, reaching US$330 billion, while transaction volumes climbed 17% to 13 billion. The network of active agents expanded to 1.4 million, and active fintech merchants grew by over 18% to reach 2.3 million. Advanced services emerged as the primary driver behind overall fintech revenue growth
Amid a fiercely competitive market and tight liquidity conditions, MTN SA subscriber numbers edged down marginally to 39.5 million, the majority of whom — 28.2 million — were prepaid customers.
“MTN SA’s prepaid performance was encouraging as we saw improving growth on data, fewer customers using airtime advance for recharging and increased bank recharges. The deliberate reset of the prepaid base will deliver higher quality base growth over time,” Mupita said. Increased growth in MTN SA postpaid, enterprise and wholesale businesses pushed overall performance higher in Q2 2026 relative to the previous quarter.
On the prospects for the overall Group, MTN said increasing digital adoption and financial inclusion across Africa supported the long-term outlook for demand across the Group’s connectivity, fintech and digital infrastructure businesses.
“While geopolitical developments, foreign exchange volatility and inflationary pressures remain areas of focus, our diversified portfolio, strong balance sheet, strong market positions, and disciplined execution provide resilience,” said Mupita,upholding the Group’s previously issued medium-term guidance.
