- MTN Ghana Q1: Service Revenue Jumps 36% As Data And Momo Drive Growth
Scancom PLC (MTN Ghana) has had a strong first quarter, driven by rising data usage and ongoing growth in mobile money, as the group managed a major structural change: the legal separation of its fintech business into a new entity, Mobile Money Fintech LTD (MMFL), effective 31 March 2026.
MTN Ghana said service revenue rose 35.7% year-on-year to GH¢7.3bn, while EBITDA increased 42.9% to GH¢4.5bn, lifting the EBITDA margin by 3.1 percentage points to 61.2%. Profit after tax climbed 46.8% to GH¢2.5bn, with earnings per share rising in line with profit growth.
Operationally, the company reported subscriber expansion across key segments: mobile subscribers increased 9.4% to 32.0m, active data subscribers rose 16.0% to 20.6m, and active MoMo users grew 4.0% to 18.0m.
The revenue mix continues to tilt toward data. MTN said data revenue jumped 52.3% to GH¢4.3bn, supported by higher subscriber numbers and a sharp increase in usage, as video streaming, social media and app-driven consumption pushed traffic materially higher. Mobile money revenue increased 28.4% to GH¢1.7bn, while digital revenue more than doubled to GH¢170.1m, reflecting stronger content and partnership-driven offerings. Voice revenue fell 3.7% to about GH¢916m, consistent with migration from traditional voice to data-based communications.
Stephen Blewett, MTN Ghana’s Chief Executive, said the performance reflected “disciplined execution” of strategic priorities, driven by momentum across “data, Mobile Money, voice and digital services”, supported by investments in network capacity and platform innovation.
The quarter is also the first to reflect the completion of the structural separation of the mobile money business, following shareholder approval and regulatory clearance. MTN said the fintech operations ceased to be a subsidiary of Scancom PLC on 31 March 2026 and began operating as a separate legal entity, MMFL, in compliance with Ghana’s Payment Systems and Services framework.
From an accounting perspective, MTN said the fintech performance for the quarter is presented as “discontinued operations” in Scancom’s IFRS statements because control changed at the point of separation even though shareholders of Scancom will “continue to fully own” the new MMFL business. To maintain comparability with previous disclosures, the company, therefore, presented pro forma consolidated results and commentary for investors.
Dividend policy shifts to quarterly interim payouts as MTN also amended its dividend policy to permit interim dividends after each quarterly result, subject to cash availability, retained earnings and covenant compliance. Under that framework, the group announced a total first-quarter dividend of GH¢0.06, split between GH¢0.03 per share from Scancom PLC and GH¢0.03 per share from MMFL (subject to MMFL shareholder approval), with payment scheduled for 18 June 2026.
MTN said Q1 performance came amid improving Ghanaian macro conditions that lifted confidence. It cited inflation easing to 3.2% in March 2026 from 5.4% in December 2025, with average inflation of 3.4% compared to 23.0% in the same period of 2025. It also noted that the cedi “depreciated marginally” in the quarter, moving from US$1/GH¢10.45 in December to US$1/GH¢11.00 in March.
The company, in its report, also said it paid GH¢2.8bn in direct and indirect taxes during the quarter and continued to invest in network resilience and customer experience, while warning that geopolitical tensions and fuel-price risks remain key variables for the rest of 2026.
