MTN Ghana revenue rises, driven by mobile money service

MTN Group said its Ghana unit’s third-quarter revenue grew around 23 percent boosted by its mobile money service MoMo. Photo: Simphiwe Mbokazi/ANA

MTN Group said its Ghana unit’s third-quarter revenue grew around 23 percent boosted by its mobile money service MoMo. Photo: Simphiwe Mbokazi/ANA

Published Oct 19, 2018

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JOHANNESBURG - MTN Group said on Friday its Ghana unit’s third-quarter revenue grew around 23 percent boosted by its mobile money service MoMo.

MTN Ghana said revenue for the nine months ended 30 September 2018 rose to 3.54 billion Ghanaian cedi ($731.90 million) from 2.49 billion Ghanaian cedi during the same period a year ago.

During the quarter, MTN Ghana’s service revenue grew 22.9 percent, its data revenue increased by 30.9 percent and digital revenue rose by 28 percent, driven by MoMo which allows money transfer and payments using a mobile phone, the firm said. 

MTN EARNINGS

In August, MTN said its headline earnings per share for the six months ended June 30 dipped to 215 cents from 231 cents, while service revenue was up 10.2 percent.

The company, which now has 223.4 million subscribers compared to 217.2 million at the end of 2017, saw an improvement in operational performance across many markets, led by Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, group president and chief executive Rob Shuter said.

Service revenue growth increased, driven by robust voice revenue growth and the continued expansion of data and digital revenue. This in-turn was supported by a 2.8 percent increase in subscriber numbers, continued network rollout, increasing 3G and 4G population coverage and improving customer service.

Shuter said MTN had resolved key regulatory issues in Cameroon and Benin, launched the initial public offering (IPO) of MTN Ghana and made progress on the IPO of MTN Nigeria. 

As part of its ongoing portfolio review, the group agreed to the sale of MTN Cyprus.

BUSINESS REPORT/REUTERS 

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