MTN Nigeria grows revenue to N2trn in 2022

By Cynthia Ezekwe

MTN Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest providers of communications services, generated N2 trillion revenue in 2022, and emerged the first publicly listed company to hit the N2 trillion mark in revenues, despite the inflationary pressure that pioneered the decline of economic growth in Nigeria.

The telecommunications company disclosed this in its 2022 audited financial statements, which showed that the company recorded 21.6 per cent increase   from the N1.6 trillion recorded in 2021.

According to the audited financial statement, the company generated N358.8 billion in profit after tax, and delivered a huge return on average equity of 119.5 per cent. MTN achieved this feat as it recorded growth in all segments of its business with voice and data leading the revenue surge.

Speaking of the remarkable performance,  Karl Toriola, the chief executive officer (CEO) of MTN disclosed that despite the high inflation rate which led to a dip in consumer spending in 2022, the company was still able to record growth across its key business segments supported largely by strategic investments.

“Our strong commercial momentum, supported by an accelerated investment in our network, enabled growth across all revenue lines. As a result, we recorded a 21.5 per cent increase in service revenue, above the average inflation rate and in line with our medium-term growth guidance. Our ability to maintain service revenue growth while unlocking efficiencies through disciplined execution of our expense efficiency programme led to a 22.0 per cent  growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and a 0.2 per cent  expansion in EBITDA margin to 53.2 per cent , in line with our medium-term target range,’’  the CEO said.

In a similar upward trend, the voice category of the company recorded a revenue of N1 trillion, which is a  6.6 per cent increase from the previous year.

“Voice revenue maintained a steady recovery as more customers were reactivated and gross connections ramped up. This was backed by our customer value management (CVM) initiatives through which we managed churn and drove increased usage from the existing base. As a result, voice revenue rose by 6.8 per cent, bucking the slower growth trend of general voice traffic as data traffic continues to increase,’’ the statement stated.

The unaudited financial statement also disclosed that its mobile subscribers gained 10.5 per cent  during the year, adding 7.2 million new subscribers and taking its total to 75.6 million subscribers.

The growth trajectory of MTN also  showed that  its data revenue recorded a  49.6 per cent  increase  in revenues to N746.9 billion in 2022 alone.,

The telecommunication giant disclosed that it generated N215 billion from data in the last quarter of 2022. It also stated that active data subscribers rose by 15.3 per cent  to 39.5 million after it added 5.2 million new users in 2022