MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecoms operator, has reported a 20.6% growth in its total revenue for the first quarter of 2023, hitting N568 billion. The company’s data revenue surpassed voice revenue for the first time, with a 40% increase in data revenue contributing to the surge. MTN’s data revenue for the quarter reached N227.8 billion, while voice revenue increased by 7.3% to reach N277.6 billion.
The company’s rollout of 5G late last year, coupled with the expansion of its 4G network, has contributed to the growth of data revenue. Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, noted that the increase in data revenue is due to the rising number of active data subscribers, which rose by 1.7 million in the first quarter.
“Our total data traffic increased by 50.3%, while 4G traffic constitutes 81.6%,” said Toriola. “We rolled out an additional 170 5G sites in Q1, bringing the population coverage to 4% and expanding the network experience to more smartphone users.”
MTN Nigeria’s sustained investment in its networks to drive 4G and 5G coverage has enabled it to cover 79.3% of the population with 4G network, up from 79.1% in December 2022. Data usage per user also grew by 31.3% to 7.8GB, and the company added over 804k new smartphones to its network in Q1.
Toriola noted that the addition of 169k users in Q1 to MTN Nigeria’s home broadband penetration was supported by deploying its 5G fixed wireless access devices, mobile broadband solutions, and fiber-to-the-home connectivity. With this growth in data revenue, MTN Nigeria’s focus on enhancing the capacity and coverage of its networks is expected to continue to support the rising data traffic and drive sustainable growth.
