By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
MTN Group delivered a strong performance in the first nine months of 2026, with service revenue and earnings growth accelerating through the third quarter.
The group service revenue rose more than 17% in constant-currency terms in the nine months ended September 30, helped by a recovery in Nigeria and continued strong performance in Ghana.
Africa’s biggest telecoms operator said third-quarter service revenue increased 16.6%.
“Q3 was our strongest quarter of 2026 and demonstrates the resilience and quality of the MTN portfolio. Service revenue growth re-accelerated through the quarter, while EBITDA continued to grow faster than revenue,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita.
Mupita said, “We remain focused on sustaining commercial momentum, expanding margins and converting growth into cash and improved returns.”
MTN South Africa recorded its strongest earnings quarter of the year. Q3 EBITDA increased by 7.0% and the EBITDA margin expanded by 3.6 percentage points to 38.1%, reflecting the initial benefits of structural cost interventions. Service revenue was flat in Q3 and grew by 1.0% in the first nine months. This reflected continued pressure in the prepaid consumer voice market, the impact of lower mobile termination rates and the deliberate prioritisation of a healthier, more valuable prepaid customer base. Data revenue improved through the quarter, but the focus remains on converting this progress into sustainable topline growth.
The Group maintained a strong balance sheet and significant financial flexibility. Free cash flow increased to R22.4 billion, while R21.4 billion was upstreamed to the Group holding company in the first nine months. Group net debt-to-EBITDA ended the period at 0.2 times.
MTN also continued to execute its shareholder remuneration framework. The Group bought back R2.0 billion of shares during the period under the R6.0 billion share buyback programme.
The proposed acquisition of IHS Holdings remains on track. MTN has secured IHS shareholder approval as well as regulatory approvals in Nigeria and from COMESA and continues to progress the remaining regulatory processes. Completion is expected before the end of 2026.
For the remainder of the year, MTN will focus on sustaining growth in its major markets, rebuilding topline momentum in South Africa, accelerating fintech towards its medium-term targets, completing the IHS transaction and maintaining disciplined capital allocation, cash generation and returns.