MTN Group’s service revenue rose 17.5 per cent to R115bn in the first half of 2026, driven by growth across its African markets as demand for connectivity and digital services remained strong.

The South Africa-based telecommunications group said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, excluding once-off items, increased by almost a quarter to R56bn during the six months ended June.

Growth was led by MTN Ghana, MTN Nigeria, MTN Uganda, MTN Ivory Coast and MTN Cameroon, as well as other businesses across the group.

The performance came as MTN advanced its new Ambition 2030 strategy, which is designed to guide the group’s next phase of growth and shareholder value creation.

The MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Mupita, said the results reflected the conversion of commercial momentum across its markets into stronger earnings, cash flow and returns.

“The Group’s overall performance in the period reflects strong conversion of the commercial momentum we see across our markets into growth in earnings, cash flow and returns,” Mupita stated.

The group committed almost R20bn to capital expenditure during the period to expand its mobile networks, connect more homes and modernise its information technology infrastructure.

MTN said it served 317.7 million customers across 19 markets at the end of June, with more than 179 million active data users. Data traffic across its networks increased by nearly 23 per cent to 14.3 petabytes.

Its fintech business also expanded, with 70.8 million active Mobile Money users. The value of fintech transactions increased by more than a third to $330bn, while transaction volumes rose 17 per cent to 13 billion.

The number of active fintech agents increased to 1.4 million, while active merchants rose by more than 18 per cent to 2.3 million.

MTN South Africa recorded a more modest 1.5 per cent increase in service revenue, reflecting management efforts to improve the quality of its prepaid customer base. Revenue growth accelerated to 2.3 per cent in the second quarter from 0.7 per cent in the first quarter.

The group said its proposed acquisition of the remaining shares in tower company IHS Holdings had received approval from several regulators, including Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

As part of the conditional approvals, MTN will sell a 30 per cent stake in IHS Nigeria to local Nigerian investors on an arm’s-length commercial basis, subject to market conditions.

MTN expects the IHS transaction to close in the second half of 2026, pending remaining regulatory approvals.

The group has also launched a share buyback programme covering about 31 million ordinary shares for an aggregate consideration of up to R6bn.

The buyback forms part of MTN’s shareholder remuneration framework under Ambition 2030, under which the group targets returning between 40 per cent and 60 per cent of equity free cash flow to shareholders through dividends or share buybacks.

Mupita said MTN remained focused on its medium-term guidance despite geopolitical risks, foreign exchange volatility and inflationary pressures.

He said the group’s diversified portfolio, strong balance sheet and market positions would provide resilience as digital adoption and financial inclusion continue to support demand for connectivity, fintech and digital infrastructure across Africa.