from OKORO CHINEDU in Lagos, Nigeria
LAGOS, (CAJ News) – MTN Nigeria has reported a 10 percent decline in its subscriber base to 67,5 million over the past year after government restrictions on new subscriber identity module (SIM) sales and activations.
Subscribers declined by 7,5 million.
An increase in data subscriptions however offset the decline.
Data subscribers increased by 8 percent to 33,2 million.
MTN Nigeria, the largest subsidiary of the South African-based group, on Friday released its financial results for the nine months ended September 30.
During the period, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 27,4 percent to N634,5 billion (US$1,5 billion) EBITDA margin improved by 1,6 percentage points to 52,6 percent.
Capital expenditure was up by 34,4 percent to N261,1 billion (up 27,9 percent to N166,5 billion excluding the right of use assets).
“In the first nine months of 2021, we continued to enhance the resilience of the business, improve our performance and make good progress towards our Ambition 2025 strategy,” MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, commented.
He said in the remainder of the year, the company would build on the momentum from the third quarter to deliver on its service revenue growth target.
“We remain focused on accelerating the expansion of our 4G coverage and rural connectivity programme while providing home broadband,” Toriola stated.
Last December, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari announced restrictions on new SIM sales in an effort to crack down on multiple registrations and fraudulent sales.
The ban was lifted in April 2021.
– CAJ News