MTN Nigeria, the country’s largest telecom provider, reported a record revenue of ₦5.20 trillion ($3.82 billion) for 2025, according to its full-year financial results.
This marks the highest revenue ever recorded in Nigeria’s telecom sector, up from ₦3.36 trillion ($2.47 billion) in 2024, according to TechCabal.
With a 51.87% share of Nigeria’s 179.41 million active mobile subscriptions, MTN’s revenue nearly matched the entire industry’s ₦5.30 trillion ($3.89 billion) revenue in 2023, according to data from the Nigerian Communications Commission.
The company also restored positive retained earnings and shareholders’ equity, proposing a final dividend of ₦15 ($0.011) per share after an interim dividend of ₦5 ($0.004) in September 2025, bringing the total dividend for the year to ₦20 ($0.015).
“2025 marked a significant turning point in our business performance and resumption of dividend payments,” said Karl Toriola, MTN Nigeria chief executive officer.
“In the period, we returned to profitability, generated stronger free cash flow, and restored positive retained earnings and shareholders’ funds.”
MTN’s results represent a sharp turnaround after years of economic pressure that eroded earnings, as currency devaluation reduced dollar-denominated revenue and caused average revenue per user (ARPU) to fall from $3.08 in 2023 to $1.89 in 2024.
Improved macroeconomic conditions in 2025, including a more stable naira and regulatory approval for market-reflective pricing, helped unlock growth for operators.
Airtel Africa reported a 28.3% increase in revenue in reported currency to $4.67 billion, with Nigeria leading through a 50.6% expansion in constant-currency revenue.
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For MTN, revenue growth of 54.93% translated into a profit after tax of ₦1.11 trillion ($816.29 million), reversing a ₦400.44 billion ($294.48 million) loss in the previous year.
After more than a decade of lobbying for cost-reflective pricing amid rising operating costs, telecom operators received regulatory approval for tariff increases on January 20, 2025.
The average price of 1GB of data doubled to about ₦575 ($0.42) from ₦287.5 ($0.21), coinciding with surging internet usage driven by streaming, remote work, fintech adoption, and social media.
Nigeria’s annual data consumption grew 35.7% to 13.25 million terabytes in 2025, raising average monthly usage per subscriber to 89.42GB from 70.09GB the previous year.
Data has now become MTN’s largest revenue contributor, accounting for 53.39% of total earnings and growing 74.58% year-on-year.
Voice revenue increased by 49.54%, demonstrating resilience despite the shift toward internet-based communication, while fintech revenue rose 79.68%.
Since its launch in Nigeria in 2001, MTN has evolved from a mobile operator into a critical component of national digital infrastructure and is now among the country’s most profitable companies.
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Image Credit: Leadership Media Group
