MTN Group has reported a lower service revenue for the nine months ended September 30 as regulatory registrations in Nigeria hurt subscriber numbers in the region.
MTN, with 288 million subscribers in 17 markets across Africa, said its group service revenue fell to $6.99 billion from $8.55 billion in the same quarter last year.
The group reported a 48.7% plunge in revenue from MTN Nigeria due to the devaluation of the currency, but noted that “the naira was less volatile on a sequential basis in Q3 than in preceding quarters”.
Its biggest contributor, MTN South Africa (MTN SA) grew marginally by 3.3% and Uganda followed suit with 5% growth helped by a firmer Ugandan shilling compared to last year.
The company said its subscriber base grew by 1.6% to 288 million, affected by “subscriber registration regulations in Nigeria and a decline in users in Sudan, where millions of people have been displaced by the conflict.”