MTN South Africa’s earnings declined sharply in the year to December 2025 as intensifying competition in the prepaid market and rising bad debts weighed on the business, even as the enterprise and post-paid segments delivered solid growth.
The local operation reported a 10.1% decline in Ebitda (excluding the impact of a tower sale) to R17.7-billion, with the margin contracting 2.8 percentage points to 34.6%. Service revenue grew by just 2% to R44-billion.
The results stand in stark contrast to the broader MTN Group, which delivered service revenue growth of 22.7% in constant currency to R218.5-billion, driven by strong performances in Nigeria and Ghana.
MTN South Africa’s prepaid segment was the main drag. Prepaid subscribers fell 0.7% to 29.7 million, while consumer prepaid service revenue declined 2.3% year on year, with the contraction accelerating to 3.9% in the fourth quarter as competitive intensity increased heading into year-end.
Voice revenue fell 4.2% for the full year and 8% in the fourth quarter, reflecting the broader pressures in the prepaid base and the ongoing shift towards VoIP services.
Fintech revenue dropped 8.4%, largely due to a slowdown in XtraTime activity as recharge volumes moderated. This was partly offset by growth in the MoMo (mobile money) portfolio, supported by momentum in insurtech-related services.
Different picture
Digital services revenue also declined, falling 3.2% on the back of lower prepaid recharge activity and softer content VAS and rich media services revenue, though mobile advertising continued to grow in double digits.
The Ebitda margin took an additional 1.2 percentage point hit from the impact of the MTN Group share price movement on the MTN South Africa staff share scheme. Increased bad debts from telesales and on-biller channels also weighed on the result.
The post-paid and enterprise segments painted a markedly different picture. Post-paid customers grew 7.6% to 4.6 million, driven by demand for integrated voice and data plans, a price adjustment effected from 1 February 2025, device-led propositions and new device-financing models.
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Consumer post-paid service revenue rose 4.4%, with growth accelerating to 5.5% in the fourth quarter.
The enterprise business was the standout performer, with service revenue up 13.6% and momentum accelerating to 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Growth was driven by demand for core mobile enterprise solutions, bulk SMS, connectivity services and converged offerings.
Data revenue grew 4.5% for the full year, though the pace eased to 3.2% in the fourth quarter amid heightened pricing pressure. Data traffic surged 27.3%, with average monthly usage per active postpaid data subscriber climbing 18% to 26.5GB. Prepaid data usage rose 28.4% to 4.2GB/month.
Wholesale revenue edged up 2.5%, with growth in mobile and fixed access data moderated by lower bulk SMS, interconnect and BTS revenues.
MTN South Africa’s challenges were compounded by a sluggish economy. The company said it is targeting medium-term service revenue growth in the “low to mid-single digits” range and an Ebitda margin of between 35% and 37%.
The company said it is progressing interventions to improve prepaid performance, including refined regional offers, personalised bundle pricing and channel optimisation.
The home connectivity segment — including fixed-wireless access and fibre to the home — is expected to remain a growth driver, while the company is also pursuing network-sharing partnerships and initiatives to reduce bad debts in third-party channels.
Capital expenditure for MTN South Africa totalled R8.4-billion on an IFRS 16 reported basis, or R6.8-billion excluding leases, down from R9.8-billion (ex-leases) in the prior year. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media
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