MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa are the two largest telecommunications companies in the country, and their stocks have delivered exceptional returns to long-term investors. Both stocks have outperformed the broad NGX index year-to-date (YTD).
Both firms have been spending on capital expenditure with a view to expanding their network and fibre optic cables across the country as Nigeria remains a cash cow due to a young population that craves for data consumption.
MTN boasts higher data, voice revenue growth
MTN Nigeria wins when it comes to revenue growth, with an increase of 56.16 percent and 27.63 percent in voice and data sales in the first quarter (Q1) of 2026. That compares with Airtel Africa’s 20.67 percent and 41.56 percent uptick in data and voice revenue.
Undoubtedly, both firms are beneficiaries of a 50 percent tariff hike which helped strengthen the top lines (sales) as well as stability in the foreign exchange market which resulted in macroeconomic stability.
Of course, the adoption of the latest technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) is important to bolstering efficiencies of telco giants who are using customer-centric strategy to magnify their customer base or their share of the market.
MTN records better profit margin than Airtel Africa
MTN Nigeria’s higher revenue growth also comes with better profit margins than Aritel Africa.
As a result of cost efficiency programme and accelerated investment in its network as well as value creation, MTN Nigeria outperforms its peer rival on efficiency ratio as Earnings before interest taxation depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin increased by 870 basis points (bps) to 55.30 percent in March 2026.
Airtel Africa’s EBITDA margin rose by 300 bps to 50.30 percent as at March 2026, but there are indications that elevated geopolitical tensions during the period which drove energy prices and inflation will lead to cost pressures in the near-term.
MTN Nigeria invests significant portion of sales on Capex than Airtel Africa
Again, MTN Nigeria is more aggressive about capital expenditure spending than its peer rival as it continues to pursue an expansion plan which is expected to magnify earnings and deliver higher returns to shareholders in the form of a bumper dividend and share appreciation.
MTN is investing a significant portion of its revenue in capital expenditures as it recorded a capital expenditure to sales ratio of 26.05 percent as at March 2026, according to MoneyCentral calculations. That compares to Airtel Africa’s ratio of 16.04 percent in the period under review.
To support this momentum, MTN Nigeria invested N390.3 billion in capex excluding leases in Q1, prioritizing network capacity and quality of experience. The more supportive foreign exchange (FX) backdrop enabled the telecoms giant to accelerate this investment while strengthening its ability to capture future revenue opportunities.
Airtel Africa spent N384.90 billion on capital expenditure while strengthening its network infrastructure across the continent.
The MTN Nigeria argument gets stronger when you look at valuation
It is glaring that MTN Nigeria has done an excellent job in improving margins and it nailed it off with better valuation. MTN Nigeria has a better valuation than Airtel.
The telecoms giant trades at a 13.04 price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio compared to Airtel’s 24.56 P/E. MTN Nigeria’s lower valuation comes with faster revenue and net income growth, plus more long-term catalysts.
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