MTN Nigeria Returns To Profitability After Two Years, Posts N133.7 Billion Profit
- MTN Nigeria encountered major FX problems in 2023, resulting in billions of naira in losses and causing worries for investors
- The losses continued in 2024, pressured by rising energy costs, and led to even more losses
- In 2025, however, MTN Nigeria posted a profit for the first time in two years, thanks to several strategic adjustments
Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.
Investors finally heaved a sigh of relief as MTN Nigeria returned to profitability after two consecutive years of reporting losses.
The telecommunication giant released the financial report for the first quarter of 2025, showing that its books have returned to the black.
For the quarter, MTN Nigeria posted N133 billion in profits, an impressive development compared to the N14 billion loss posted in Q1 2024.
Source: UGC
Also, the telecom company now has 84 million subscribers after adding 3.2 million new users during the quarter to consolidate its position as Nigeria’s biggest telecommunications player.
MTN suffers FX losses over naira devaluation
Legit.ng previously reported that MTN lost billions of naira due to the naira devaluation and floating of the foreign exchange market.
The year 2024 was worse, with over N400 billion loss, more than double the N137 billion loss of 2023.
In 2023 and 2024, shareholders did not receive any dividends, and there were deep concerns that another losing year could erode shareholders' funds.
As part of strategies to curb the losses, MTN reduced its FX exposure this year (2025) by repaying a huge chunk of its dollar-denominated loans.
MTN grows revenue in Q1 2025
The numbers showed that the different strategies applied to reduce losses have paid off as MTN Nigeria grew its revenue by 40.5% to N1.05 trillion.
This was a combined result of the stability in FX rates witnessed during the quarter and the renegotiated HIS tower lease agreements.
MTN Nigeria also got a final go-ahead to increase tariffs during the first quarter, and implemented the said increase in February 2025.
Active data users have also increased by 13% to 50 million, indicating a larger customer base for MTN’s data offerings. Data revenue also consolidated its position as a top earner for MTN, with N529 billion in revenue to beat voice revenue at N407 billion. Average data usage per user also grew to about 12.8GB despite the increase in tariffs.
More highlights from MTN's Q1 2025 results
Other positive highlights include the presence of positive free cash flow of N209.9 billion, and fintech revenue growing to N36 billion.
A few factors that may still be of concern to shareholders are the decline of active mobile money (MoMo PSB) wallets to 2.1 million, and the negative shareholder fund of N324.6 billion, which may delay a declaration of dividends.
But the company is well on its way back up.
MTN Nigeria despite cyberattack on MTN Group
Legit.ng reported that MTN Nigeria was one of the few unaffected groups when a cyberattack hit the MTN group recently.
The group sent a message to subscribers in the affected countries and urged them to take steps to secure their data.
Source: Getty Images
Nigerian subscribers were told to remain calm as the cyber attack did not affect any of its systems.
Analysts predict profitability for MTN in 2025
In related news, Legit.ng reported that industry experts and analysts predicted that 2025 would be the year MTN would break even after all the losses.
Their prediction was hinged on several factors, particularly the loan restructuring and renegotiation of tower lease agreements.
The tariff hike also played a role, being the first hike in tariffs after more than a decade.
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Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
