Africa’s Largest Mobile Operator MTN Group

GUIDES · COMPANY

MTN Group explained for outsiders: how a South African phone company became the network, the bank branch and the payments rail for hundreds of millions of Africans, and what could go wrong.

MTN Group is best understood as two businesses sharing one set of towers. The first sells airtime and data.

The second, mobile money, now moves more value in six months than many African economies produce in a year. Most of the growth, and most of the risk, sits outside South Africa.

What the company does

MTN sells mobile voice calls, data, fixed-line home internet and services for businesses. Customers mostly pay in advance, buying airtime in small amounts.

Data is now the largest single revenue stream, and voice is slowly shrinking. It started in South Africa in 1994, the year apartheid ended.

Its first big foreign bet was Nigeria, where it launched in 2001. In 2006 it bought Investcom, a Middle Eastern and African operator, for about US$5.5 billion.

That deal brought in several markets and, indirectly, the Mikati family of Lebanon as shareholders. The second business is fintech, meaning financial services delivered by phone.

Its MoMo wallets let people send money, pay bills, buy goods and borrow small sums without a bank account. A network of about 1.4 million agents, usually small shops, turns cash into digital money and back again.

The fintech arm had 70.8 million monthly active users at 30 June 2026. It processed 13 billion transactions worth US$330.5 billion in the half-year.

For scale, that value is larger than the annual economic output of most African countries. MTN has been separating fintech into standalone companies, such as MobileMoney Fintech Limited in Ghana.

MTN also owns stakes in network infrastructure. It holds about 24.7 percent of IHS Towers, which owns nearly 29,000 mobile towers in Africa.

It has agreed to buy the rest, as explained below.

The numbers

The latest reported results cover the six months to 30 June 2026, published on 24 August 2026. Revenue was R118.9 billion (about US$7.2 billion).

Service revenue, which excludes handset and SIM sales, was R115.3 billion (about US$7.0 billion). Service revenue grew 9.7 percent in rand and 17.5 percent in constant currency, which strips out exchange-rate moves.

The gap matters. Most of MTN’s markets have weaker currencies than the rand, so strong local growth shrinks when it is reported in South Africa.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), a common measure of operating profit, reached R56.0 billion (about US$3.4 billion) before one-off items. That is a margin of 47.1 percent of revenue, which MTN called a record.

Capital spending, mostly on networks, was R19.7 billion (about US$1.2 billion) excluding leases. Profit per share tells three different stories.

Adjusted headline earnings per share, which strip out one-off items, rose 21.3 percent to R7.93 (about US$0.48). Headline earnings per share fell 5.8 percent to R6.15 (about US$0.37).

Basic earnings per share fell 26.1 percent to R4.04 (about US$0.25). The main reason for the gap is Iran.

MTN wrote down its Iranian joint venture by R3.9 billion (about US$238 million) in the half. Currency losses, largely in South Sudan, added to the drag.

The adjusted figure is the better guide to the operating business; the basic figure is what shareholders actually earned. The growth is uneven.

In constant currency, service revenue grew 25.7 percent in Nigeria and 32.3 percent in Ghana, but only 1.5 percent in South Africa. MTN South Africa had 39.5 million subscribers, a marginal decline, as it cut back low-quality prepaid customers.

For the full year 2025, service revenue was R218.5 billion (about US$13.3 billion), up 22.9 percent. The board paid a dividend of R5.00 a share (about US$0.30) for that year, up 45 percent.

There was no interim dividend for the first half of 2026. Instead, MTN began a share buyback of up to R6 billion (about US$366 million).

The balance sheet is conservative. Group net debt was 0.3 times EBITDA at 30 June 2026.

The holding company’s own net debt was R36.1 billion (about US$2.2 billion). The IHS deal would lift the group ratio to about 0.8 times, still well below the 2.5 times its lenders allow.

Owners and management

MTN has no controlling shareholder. The largest single holder is South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC), the state-owned manager of public servants’ pensions.

Shareholder data put its stake at about a fifth. The Mikati family holds about 6 percent.

Local fund managers and foreign investors hold most of the rest. The share price closed at about R193.89 (about US$11.82) on 25 September 2026.

On roughly 1.83 billion shares, that values the company at about R355 billion (about US$22 billion). That makes it one of the larger companies on the JSE.

Ralph Mupita has been group president and chief executive since 1 September 2020. He was previously MTN’s finance chief.

His plan, called Ambition 2030, aims to run MTN as three linked platforms: connectivity, fintech and digital infrastructure. It promises to return 40 to 60 percent of equity free cash flow to shareholders, through dividends or buybacks.

The chairman is Mcebisi Jonas, a former deputy finance minister. MTN also has a long link to South African politics.

Cyril Ramaphosa, now the country’s president, chaired the MTN board from 2002 until 2013. Several subsidiaries have local shareholders.

MTN Nigeria is listed on the Nigerian Exchange and MTN Ghana on the Ghana Stock Exchange. MTN Uganda and MTN Rwanda are also listed on their home exchanges.

Local listings help satisfy governments that want citizens to own part of foreign-controlled telecoms firms.

Its role in the market

In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, MTN is dominant. It had 100.9 million active lines in July 2026, or 51.76 percent of the market, on regulator data.

Airtel held 34.26 percent. Together the two control roughly 86 percent of all subscriptions.

In Ghana, regulators have designated MTN as having significant market power. That label lets them impose extra conditions.

In 2026 it paid a 40 percent premium for 5G spectrum because of it, securing low-band airwaves for US$100.9 million. In South Africa, MTN is a large but mature player in a competitive market.

Vodacom is its main rival. Growth at home is low, and MTN’s South African business is now a smaller share of the group’s growth than its West African units.

Its wider rivals include Airtel Africa, Orange, Vodacom’s regional businesses and Safaricom’s M-Pesa in mobile money. In many markets, MTN’s yellow brand is as familiar as a bank’s.

That familiarity is also why governments watch its pricing, profits and tax payments closely.

Risks and controversies

Iran is the longest-running problem. MTN owns 49 percent of Irancell, the country’s second-largest mobile operator.

Iranian state and defence-linked entities hold the rest. Since United States sanctions were reimposed in May 2018, MTN has not been able to take any money out.

It has sought to sell the stake since 2020 without finding a way to do it. That exposure has a legal tail.

MTN disclosed in August 2025 that it is the subject of a United States Department of Justice grand jury investigation. It also faces a civil lawsuit under the US Anti-Terrorism Act, brought by families of Americans killed or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

MTN denies wrongdoing in both matters, and neither has produced a finding against it. Nigeria has produced the largest penalties.

In 2015 the regulator fined MTN Nigeria about US$5.2 billion for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards. The fine was cut by about two-thirds in a 2016 settlement.

In 2018 the central bank accused it of improperly moving US$8.1 billion abroad. MTN settled that dispute by paying about US$53 million.

Currency is the everyday risk. When the naira, the cedi or other local currencies fall, MTN’s results in rand fall with them, even if local customers keep paying.

Hyperinflation in Iran and South Sudan adds accounting charges that are hard to predict. Mobile money brings its own disputes.

In Ghana, a local firm, Clydestone, sued in July 2026 claiming MTN used its framework for mobile money without paying for it. An Irish company separately claims MTN uses its “Mobile Money” trademark without permission.

MTN has said it will contest the Ghana case. Finally, there is conflict.

MTN operates in Sudan and South Sudan, where war and currency collapse have hit results. Network shutdowns ordered by governments, as in Uganda around its 2026 election, also cut revenue directly.

What to watch

The IHS Towers deal. MTN agreed on 17 February 2026 to buy the shares it does not own at US$8.50 each, about US$2.2 billion in total.

Nigeria’s competition regulator approved it on condition that MTN later sells up to 30 percent of IHS Nigeria to local investors. MTN expects the deal to close in the second half of 2026, subject to remaining approvals.

Fintech growth. Fintech revenue rose 13.3 percent in constant currency in the first half of 2026, to R14.9 billion (about US$910 million).

That is below MTN’s medium-term target of growth in the high twenties to low thirties. The company blamed an election shutdown in Uganda, a rate change in Ghana and a suspended product in Nigeria.

South Africa. Management says the prepaid clean-up will produce better-quality growth later.

Quarterly service revenue growth improved from 0.7 percent to 2.3 percent between the first and second quarters of 2026. Whether that continues is the test.

Iran and Washington. Any change in US sanctions policy, or in the Justice Department investigation, would move the share price.

So would further write-downs of the Irancell stake. The full-year 2026 results, due in early 2027, will show whether the buyback continues and what final dividend the board declares.

What this means for foreigners and investors

For travellers and residents, MTN is one of the main local SIM options in most of its markets. Every market requires SIM registration, usually with a passport.

In South Africa this is called RICA, after the law that requires it. Mobile money accounts need extra checks.

For investors, MTN offers exposure to African consumer growth through a large, liquid JSE share. That exposure comes with currency risk.

Much of the profit is earned in naira, cedis, CFA francs and other currencies, but reported in rand. It also comes with legal risk from Iran and the United States.

Buying the Nigerian or Ghanaian listed units gives purer local exposure, but those markets are less liquid and moving money out can be slower. What MTN is not is a simple South African utility.

Treat it as a pan-African growth company with a South African head office. For background on the main markets, see the South Africa explained guide, the Nigeria explained guide and the Ghana explained guide.

Sources: Results, strategy and the IHS offer from MTN Group’s own releases and results booklets, market shares from the Nigerian Communications Commission as reported, and legal and regulatory history from company disclosures and news reports.

• MTN Group — H1 2026 results media release, 24 August 2026
• MTN Group — H1 2026 results presentation
• MTN Group — FY 2025 results booklet (JSE SENS)
• MTN Group — proposed acquisition of IHS Towers, 17 February 2026
• MarketScreener — MTN Group major shareholders
• ITWeb — Ramaphosa steps down as MTN chairman
• Africanews — MTN settles Nigeria repatriation dispute with US$53 million payment
• Telecoms.com — MTN Nigeria fine reduced by two thirds

What Is Not Known

When, or whether, MTN can leave Iran. It has tried since 2020.

No buyer or mechanism that satisfies both Tehran and Washington has been found, and the carrying value of the stake keeps falling. Where the US investigation and lawsuit end.

The Justice Department inquiry is at the grand jury stage and no charges have been reported. The Anti-Terrorism Act case has not reached a verdict.

The size of any possible penalty is unknown. Whether the IHS deal closes on time and on the stated terms.

Some regulatory approvals were still outstanding in August 2026, and the Nigerian sell-down condition has no fixed price or date. What the fintech business is worth on its own.

MTN has not published a current valuation for it, and no separate listing date has been set. The exact current shareholding of the PIC.

Shareholder data put it near a fifth, but MTN’s own register at the latest date was not available when this guide was written.

More: South Africa news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is MTN Group?

MTN Group is a South African telecoms company and Africa’s largest mobile operator group by customers. It had 317.7 million customers in 19 markets at 30 June 2026 and also runs MoMo, one of Africa’s biggest mobile money services.

Where is MTN Group listed?

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under the code MTN. Its Nigerian and Ghanaian subsidiaries are listed separately on the Nigerian Exchange and the Ghana Stock Exchange.

How much money does MTN make?

In the six months to 30 June 2026, service revenue was R115.3 billion, about US$7.0 billion, and EBITDA before one-off items was R56.0 billion, about US$3.4 billion. Adjusted headline earnings per share rose 21.3 percent.

Who owns MTN Group?

No one controls it. South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation, which manages public servants’ pensions, is the largest shareholder with about a fifth of the shares. The Mikati family holds about 6 percent, and institutional investors hold most of the rest.

Why does MTN have problems in Iran?

MTN owns 49 percent of Irancell. US sanctions reimposed in May 2018 stop it taking money out, so it keeps writing down the stake. It also faces a US Justice Department investigation and a US lawsuit linked to its Middle East past, and denies wrongdoing.

What is MTN MoMo?

MoMo is MTN’s mobile money service. It lets people send and receive money, pay bills and borrow small sums by phone, without a bank account. It had 70.8 million monthly active users at 30 June 2026.

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