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MTN is incomes extra from every Ghanaian subscriber than wherever else in its enterprise.
At $6.76, MTN Ghana now delivers the best common income per person (ARPU) throughout the group, virtually double Nigeria’s $3.60, even after tariff hikes lifted Nigerian ARPU by 65.89% in 2025, in response to the group’s 2025 knowledge sheet.
Nigeria remains to be MTN’s greatest market. MTN Nigeria overtook South Africa to grow to be the group’s largest revenue contributor in 2025, producing ₦5.2 trillion ($3.77 billion) in service income and accounting for over 1 / 4 of group income.
The numbers spotlight a shift in MTN’s enterprise: worth is now not coming from its largest markets, however from these with extra steady currencies and pricing energy.
Whereas Nigeria continues to drive subscriber progress and headline income, inflation and foreign money volatility are compressing what every person is value in actual phrases. Ghana, against this, is changing macro stability into greater, extra predictable earnings per subscriber, making it MTN’s most effective market regardless of its smaller measurement.
Ghana is changing stability into progress
MTN Ghana’s numbers present that the enterprise just isn’t solely rising, however monetising effectively.
Service income rose 36.2% in 2025, whereas Earnings earlier than curiosity, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), the amount of money it generates from its enterprise earlier than accounting for financing and accounting prices, climbed 43.5%, pushing margins to 60.1%. Revenue after tax jumped 55.9%.
At about 60%, MTN Ghana is operating a extra worthwhile operation than MTN Nigeria, the place margins recovered to 52.7% after a troublesome 2024.
Ghana’s effectivity has been pushed by a steady macro-environment.
Inflation declined from 23.5% in January to five.4% in December 2025, and the Ghanaian cedi strengthened by about 40% in opposition to the greenback, closing the yr at GHS10.45/$ from GHS14.7/$ in 2024.
This stability has allowed MTN to retain worth in greenback phrases. With 31.2 million subscribers, Ghana is much smaller than Nigeria, however its income per person is much extra beneficial than that of Nigeria.
Nigeria nonetheless brings the amount
With 87.3 million subscribers and ₦5.2 trillion ($3.77 billion) in service income, MTN Nigeria is the group’s progress engine. MTN Group made ZAR218.50 billion ($12.21 billion) in 2025.
Income rose by 55.1% in 2025, whereas revenue after tax rebounded to ₦1.11 trillion ($803.89 million), reversing the prior yr’s loss. A lot of that progress was pushed by tariff changes and elevated knowledge utilization.
However macro circumstances proceed to dilute these features in greenback phrases.
Whereas the naira strengthened to the ₦1,400/$ area in 2025 from ₦1,500/$ in 2024, it’s nonetheless far off the lower than ₦1000/$ common it held earlier than 2024.
Inflation has additionally remained at double figures, closing 2025 at 15.5%. MTN Nigeria’s ARPU, whereas recovering from a low of $2.09 in Q3 2024, stays far under its $5.03 peak in early 2023.
In impact, Nigeria is delivering extra customers, extra visitors, and extra income, however much less worth per person in actual phrases.
South Africa sits between
MTN South Africa’s ARPU stands at $5.32, supported by a stronger base of postpaid customers and better shopper buying energy.
Nonetheless, South Africa, with 40.6 million subscribers, has income rising at a slower tempo, solely rising by 1.98% to ZAR44.03 billion ($2.46 billion) in 2025.
The rand carried out strongly in opposition to the greenback, averaging 17.89 in 2025, versus the common change fee of 18.32 in 2024
Even with relative macro stability and gradual financial progress, gross home product expanded simply 0.4% year-on-year within the fourth quarter of 2025, exacerbating market aggressive pressures.
Past the massive three, ARPUs grew throughout the group’s 16 subsidiaries, reflecting its improved efficiency in 2025 because it crossed 300 million prospects.
Throughout MTN’s 16 markets, ARPUs improved in 2025 because the group crossed 300 million subscribers.
Total, MTN’s greatest market is now not its greatest market. So long as foreign money stress and inflation persist, Nigeria will hold delivering quantity with out matching worth, leaving smaller, extra steady markets like Ghana to do the true monetary heavy lifting.
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