MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has released its audited 2025 financial results, revealing a corporate performance that serves as a cornerstone for the Nigerian economy.
Beyond the headline recovery from a 2024 deficit, the company has emerged as one of the nation’s largest private-sector taxpayer and its most aggressive infrastructure investor.
The 2025 financial year was the first full period governed by the Nigeria Tax Act 2025 (signed June 26, 2025). MTN Nigeria emerged as a primary contributor to the new fiscal framework.
The Tax Pillar: ₦878 Billion Contributed to National Development
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Fiscal Contribution: MTN paid ₦878.7 billion in taxes and levies, one of the highest on record for any single private entity in Nigeria, and was recognised by the Nigeria Revenue Service for tax compliance and transparency, demonstrating MTN’s track record of sound governance.
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Applying the 15% Minimum ETR: In line with Section 57 of the new Act, MTN adhered to the 15% minimum effective tax rate (ETR), ensuring that large-scale profitability directly supports the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
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Simplified Levies: The company transitioned its various sector-specific charges to the new 4% Development Levy, which replaced the Tertiary Education Tax and NITDA levies.
The Capex Pillar: ₦1 Trillion Infrastructure Bet
MTN more than doubled its capital expenditure from ₦443.5 billion in 2024 to ₦1 trillion in 2025. This was not just a network upgrade; it was a strategic pivot to strengthen service quality and user experience in line with MTN Nigeria’s commitment to its customers and the government, while positioning the business for growth in an increasingly data-driven market.
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MVNO Strategy: MTN is now onboarding Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), allowing smaller players to lease its 24,300 tower sites and fiber network. This allows MTN to earn high-margin wholesale revenue while bypasssing the cost of retail subscriber acquisition.
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Network Resilience: A significant portion of the ₦1 trillion was spent on improving power backup and fiber redundancy to combat the fiber cuts the company faced during the year.
2025 Financial Scorecard: From Deficit to Dominance
The recovery was fueled by an explosion in data demand and the stabilization of the Naira, which allowed for the reversal of previous revaluation losses.
- Active data users increased by 11.6% to 53.2 million
- Service revenue increased by 55.1% to N5.2 trillion
- EBITDA increased by 108.9% to N2.7 trillion
- EBITDA margin increased by 13.6pp to 52.7%
- PAT of N1.1 trillion, up 377.9% (FY 2024: negative N400.4 billion)
- Earnings per share of N53.07 kobo (FY 2024: negative N19.05 kobo)
Strategic Outlook: 2026 Road Map
With the ₦15 per share dividend resumption, MTN has signaled that its “Ambition 2025” strategy has successfully transitioned the business into a sustainable growth phase:
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Targeting the “Bottom of the Pyramid”: Through MVNO partnerships, MTN will reach rural and underserved communities that were previously commercially unviable for a large MNO to serve directly.
- Speed: MTN was recognised as Nigeria’s best mobile network at the 2025 Ookla Speedtest Awards, along with other independent crowdsourced benchmarks that continued to validate its leadership in speed and latency.
- Data Led Growth: Data revenue increased by 74.5%, making it the largest contributor to MTN’s service revenue. This growth was supported by an expanded active user base, increased usage and higher traffic. The number of active data subscribers grew by 11.6%, while smartphone penetration rose by 7.9pp to 66.1%, reflecting the rising demand for high-speed connectivity. Data traffic increased by 34.0% and average usage per subscriber rose by 20% to 13.1GB. In addition, 4G population coverage improved by 2.1pp to 84.6%. These results underscore the effectiveness of MTN’s accelerated network investments and commitment to delivering a superior quality of service and user experience.
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