MTN South Africa had its most profitable quarter of 2026 in the three months to September. The company got there by cutting costs, while its revenue stood still and its prepaid customer base shrank.
The local unit’s Ebitda rose 7% year on year in the third quarter, MTN Group said in a trading update on Monday. Ebitda means earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. The Ebitda margin grew by 3.6 percentage points to 38.1%.
That figure is above the company’s medium-term target range of 35% to 37%. The margin has climbed every quarter this year, from 32.6% in the first quarter and 35.9% in the second.
“Performance is not yet at the level of our ambitions, but Q3 marks a clear improvement,” MTN said. “Our cost base is leaner, our customer base healthier and our margin stronger.”
MTN said the gains came from “structural cost interventions” that are starting to take effect. The company is aiming for savings of R4-billion to R6-billion by 2029.
Service revenue in South Africa was flat in the third quarter. Over nine months it was up just 1%, which is below the company’s target of low to mid single-digit growth. MTN said it expects full-year growth to miss that range.
“While MTN SA’s service revenue was flat in Q3 2026 and up 1% year on year, it remains below our medium-term target,” group CEO Ralph Mupita said. “We were, however, encouraged by the month-on-month improvement in prepaid trends.”
MTN said it had chosen a healthier and more valuable customer base over sheer numbers. Its prepaid base fell 6.9% year on year to 27.4 million. The total customer base dropped 2.7% to 39 million.
The prepaid count has fallen every quarter this year. It stood at 29.7 million at the end of December, 29.3 million in March and 28.2 million in June.
Data revenue rose 4.7% and grew 6% in the third quarter. Data now makes up 50.5% of service revenue. Post-paid data users used an average of 32.8GB a month, while prepaid users averaged 5.2GB.
Voice revenue fell 10.5% as customers moved to data and messaging apps. Interconnect revenue dropped 20.4% after cuts to mobile termination rates in July 2025 and July 2026. Digital services revenue fell 10.2%, although gaming grew 15.5%.
On the cost side, network and IT spending fell 5% and doubtful debts dropped 16.2%. Over the nine months, reported Ebitda was down 2.9%, with a margin of 35.5%. MTN said this was weighed down by the prepaid reset and an employee share scheme charge.
The wider MTN Group did much better. Service revenue rose 17.2% in constant currency to R176.2-billion over nine months. MTN Nigeria’s third-quarter service revenue grew 19.7%.
“Q3 was our strongest quarter of 2026 and demonstrates the resilience and quality of the MTN portfolio,” Mupita said.
The group said it expects to complete its purchase of IHS Towers before the end of the year. This still needs approval from South Africa’s Competition Tribunal and regional regulators.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TechCentral. Image: TechCentral. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.