That is Observe the Cash, our weekly sequence that unpacks the earnings, enterprise, and scaling methods of African fintechs, telcos, and monetary establishments. A brand new version drops each Monday. 

Within the first quarter of 2025, MTN Nigeria made more cash than any telecommunication firm has ever made in a single quarter on the Nigerian Change Restricted (NGX).

The report efficiency was not by chance however because of rising knowledge demand, strategic fintech enlargement, tariff hikes, and sustained funding in infrastructure, in line with MTN’s newest earnings report. 

Because the broader telecom trade grapples with slowing momentum—GDP progress fell to six.25% in 2024, the bottom in no less than six years—such good points might provide a much-needed increase to the sector’s progress in Q1.

MTN’s complete income—which incorporates revenue from companies in addition to non-service gadgets like SIM playing cards and system gross sales—jumped by 40.5% year-on-year, reaching ₦1.06 trillion ($658.4 million) in Q1 2025, up from ₦752.9 billion ($467.7 million) in the identical interval final yr. 

 In comparison with This autumn 2024, MTN’s complete income grew by 6.8% from ₦990.6 billion ($615.3 million).

In February 2025, the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) authorized a proposal to lift tariffs on voice and knowledge companies after a decade, a transfer it justified as essential to offset overseas change losses and inflationary stress. MTN attributed the rise to its potential to maintain investments, with ₦202.4 billion ($125.7 million) spent on capital expenditure in Q1, up 159% year-on-year.

“The tariff empowered us to speed up community investments, increase capability, and enhance consumer expertise,” Karl Toriola, MTN Nigeria CEO, stated in its earnings report.

Information stays MTN’s most bankable product

MTN’s complete income from knowledge companies rose by 51.5% year-on-year to ₦529.4 billion ($328.8 million), pushed by a 46.4% surge in knowledge visitors and the addition of two.6 million new lively knowledge customers in Q1. MTN now serves 50.3 million knowledge subscribers, out of a complete of 84.1 million. The corporate’s knowledge income is larger than Airtel Africa’s income of $139 million for a similar interval.

Information utilization per subscriber jumped by 29.5% to 12.8 gigabytes (GB), even with larger tariffs. NCC knowledge revealed that nationwide knowledge spending surged to ₦585.08 billion ($363.4 million) in March 2025, almost double the ₦287.77 billion ($178.2 million) recorded in January.

“Roughly 4.0 million smartphones had been added to the community in the course of the quarter, elevating smartphone penetration to 60.7%,” Toriola added, attributing the expansion to rising demand for high-speed cell web.

In line with the GSMA, a non-profit commerce affiliation that represents the pursuits of cell community operators worldwide, 58 million Nigerians are lively web customers, with 85% utilizing cell web for video calls, 75% without spending a dime on-line video streaming, and 54% without spending a dime music streaming.

MTN additionally continues to construct enterprise companies for company shoppers, providing broadband (FibreX), cell engagement suites, bulk SMS, cloud companies, and IoT connectivity, making certain that wholesale contracts stay a secure income stream.

MTN’s major income supply shouldn’t be retail customers however reasonably wholesale agreements with giant corporations, says a Lagos-based analyst at a significant funding agency who requested to not be named to talk freely.

“These huge corporations generate vital revenue for MTN by means of their excessive knowledge consumption. Due to this fact, even when retail client spending decreases, MTN’s complete income stays secure as a consequence of its reliance on these main company shoppers,’ he stated.

Fintech: Fewer customers, extra worth

MTN’s fintech play, typically overshadowed by its core telco enterprise, is starting to drag extra weight. Income from its monetary companies arm rose by 57.9% to ₦36.1 billion ($22.4 million) in Q1, largely as a consequence of progress in airtime lending (Xtratime) and elevated float revenue.

Nonetheless, the variety of lively wallets declined by 25.7% to 2.1 million. MTN defined that this drop was strategic; it centered on buying high-value customers who contribute extra considerably to drift balances and transaction volumes.

“Since Q3 2024, we revamped our buyer acquisition technique, optimising incentives and engagement, leading to stronger qualitative efficiency and deeper service penetration,” the corporate famous.

Rising working bills

Operational self-discipline helped MTN maintain profitability regardless of Nigeria’s robust macroeconomic surroundings. After taking a significant foreign exchange hit in 2024, MTN returned to revenue in Q1 2025 for the third straight quarter.

Working bills grew modestly by 4.2% to ₦408.7 billion ($253.8 million), a lot decrease than the 25% enhance recorded in Q1 final yr. Key drivers included renegotiated tower leases—particularly with IHS Towers—and ongoing cost-efficiency initiatives.

“Price effectivity supported the containment of total working value progress,” MTN said in its earnings report.

Features for MTN however woes for customers

The 50% tariff hike means elevated month-to-month spending for cash-strapped customers. In an financial system grappling with double-digit inflation, larger connectivity prices are biting into family budgets. 

In line with the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics, headline inflation in Nigeria rose for the primary time this yr to 24.2% in March. 

Cell and web entry are actually important companies, making their value a big facet of the price of residing. Though Nigeria meets the United Nations’ affordability customary (1GB of knowledge costing not more than 2% of common month-to-month revenue), the overall spending on web companies remains to be a burden for a lot of Nigerians. Analysis by Utility Bidder, a United Kingdom-based enterprise power consultancy, reveals that Nigerian households spend over 67.7% of their month-to-month revenue on utilities, comprising water, gasoline, electrical energy, broadband, and cell knowledge.

“Information prices have considerably elevated, almost doubling my bills. This knowledge additionally depletes shortly,” Peace Michael, a Lagos-based freelance journalist, instructed TechCabal over a telephone name. Earlier than the tariff enhance, she would purchase 75GB for one month at ₦18,000 ($11.2) from a 15GB plan, which was ₦6,000 – ₦7,000 ($3.74 – $4.37)

To handle this, Michael needed to take away some social media apps like Fb and TikTok from my telephone. “It’s irritating to take care of poor community service alongside rising tariffs,” she added.

One other MTN consumer, Femi, who requested just for his first identify for use, stated he sometimes purchases round 75GB of knowledge, twice a month, as a consequence of heavy utilization. Nonetheless, generally he buys it solely as soon as as a result of MTN typically features a 30GB bonus.

“I keep away from overspending on knowledge as a result of lack of rollover and unreliable community, however MTN stays my most popular supplier as Glo and Airtel are usually not higher choices,” he added.

One trillion income stands out as the new regular

A market capitalisation of ₦5.98 trillion ($3.7 billion) as at Might 9, 2025, reveals that MTN Nigeria is chasing progress. Its April 15 buying and selling quantity of over 11 million models on the NGX—the best in its historical past—indicators rising investor confidence.

“Whereas the complete tariff affect on utilization and income is predicted in Q2, early indicators counsel continued resilience in buyer demand, aided by our focused Buyer Worth Administration (CVM) initiatives,” Toriola stated.

Nonetheless, MTN can’t depend on tariff hikes ceaselessly. Sustainable progress will rely on innovation, service high quality, and increasing entry, significantly to underserved markets.

Within the meantime, MTN isn’t simply following the cash—it’s laying down the infrastructure to maintain it flowing. For now, Nigeria’s digital financial system has a transparent frontrunner.