MTN Rwanda Targets Tech Upgrades and Fintech Expansion Amid Profits Recovery

MTN Rwanda Plc is ramping up investments in technology and financial services as it continues its return to profitability.

The telecom operator posted a profit of Rwf6.3 billion in the first half of 2025, reversing a loss of more than Rwf10 billion in the same period last year.

Year-on-year profit rose by over 160%, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed to 40.4%, up 9.1 percentage points.

The strong performance was driven by a 27% drop in cost of sales and Rwf7 billion in operational savings.

“It’s a very strong set of financial results. This is the third quarter consistently where we are delivering profits,” said Dunstan Ayodele Stober, MTN’s Chief Finance Officer, in an interview with The New Times on Thursday, August 14, at the company’s headquarters.

Last year, MTN recorded a 6.4% fall in voice revenue. The company has since recovered about 1.8 percentage points of that decline while keeping a tight grip on costs.

Stober said MTN had been “very smart around the way we deliver devices,” cutting subsidies from Rwf4 billion last year by introducing new affordable access models.

Along with lower interconnect and device costs, these steps have improved margins.

Revenue grew 13.5%, while normalised operating expenses rose just 8.3%.

“The strong delivery of profitability comes from both revenue uplift and the containment of costs,” he added.

See Also:

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Data revenue increased 10.1% year-on-year, supported by a 35% rise in 4G users and higher smartphone penetration, which now stands at 41.5%.

“We are exploring various models to further drive smartphone adoption. By combining our strong data offerings, superior network experience, and advanced technology, we aim to continue growing our data revenues,” Stober said.

Fintech income, led by mobile money (MoMo), grew 29.1%. Active MoMo users reached 3.2 million, while the number of merchant outlets expanded by 30%.

Advanced mobile money services, such as banking products, rose 41%.

Stober noted that fintech and data will remain MTN’s main growth drivers as it works to recover from falling voice revenues.

On network investment, he emphasised MTN’s value-based capital allocation strategy, focusing spending on projects that directly improve profitability.

“We are the first in Rwanda to launch 5G, and our strategic focus has always been to maintain network leadership.

We invest where the returns justify it and where it supports sustainable growth.

Above all, our priority is to keep advancing our technology to deliver a better user experience for our customers,” he said.

He added that the company has invested heavily in its network to address operational challenges and improve service quality, aiming to maintain market share and grow its subscriber base.

Regarding the mobile termination rate (MTR), fees operators pay each other for cross-network calls, still under discussion with the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), Stober said, “While it’s something that we’ve been pushing for, it’s come at a rate of what we say, I’ll say 50 per cent of what we had initially anticipated.

And to that effect, we expect to see an improvement in our revenues as a result.”

See Also:

Museveni Urges MTN To Deepen Investment In Uganda

Image Credit: TechAfrica News

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