Story Highlights
- MTN Ghana posted a profit after tax of GH₵2.5 billion in Q1 2026, up 46.8% year-on-year, driven by explosive data growth
- Service revenue climbed 35.7% to GH₵7.3 billion, with data revenue alone accounting for 59% of the total
- The board declared a first-ever quarterly dividend of GH₵0.06 per share, split between Scancom PLC and its newly separated fintech unit
- The structural separation of the mobile money business was completed on March 31, marking a fundamental shift in how the company is organised
MTN Ghana has opened 2026 with a statement of intent. Scancom PLC, the telecom’s Ghana-listed entity, reported a profit after tax of GH₵2.5 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026 — a 46.8% jump from the same period last year.
Service revenue rose 35.7% year-on-year to GH₵7.3 billion, while Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed 42.9% to GH₵4.5 billion.
The EBITDA margin widened to 61.2%, a figure that places MTN Ghana among the most operationally efficient telecoms on the continent.
For investors and analysts tracking the company, the numbers confirm what Q4 2025 foreshadowed: MTN Ghana has structurally shifted from a voice-and-connectivity business into a data-and-digital platform company.
MTN’s Data Engine
The most consequential number in MTN Ghana’s Q1 2026 results is not the headline profit figure. It is this: data revenue now accounts for 59% of total service revenue.
Data revenue surged 52.3% year-on-year to GH₵4.3 billion, fuelled by a 40.9% increase in monthly data consumption per user, which now stands at 18.8 gigabytes.
Total active data subscribers reached 20.6 million, with the company’s 4G infrastructure increasingly absorbing traffic that once flowed through voice channels.
Voice Fades, Fintech Restructures
Voice revenue fell 3.7% to GH₵916 million, continuing an industry-wide decline as subscribers migrate to data-driven communication tools such as WhatsApp.
The drop is neither unexpected nor alarming — it mirrors patterns across sub-Saharan Africa — but it underscores the urgency of MTN Ghana’s pivot toward data and fintech as long-term revenue anchors.
On the fintech side, Mobile Money revenue rose 28.4% to GH₵1.7 billion. The headline growth figure, while solid, is arguably secondary to the structural change that defined the quarter: the formal separation of the mobile money business.
Effective March 31, 2026, MobileMoney Limited was merged into a newly incorporated entity, MobileMoney Fintech Ltd (MMFL), in compliance with Ghana’s Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019. The transaction involved no issuance of new shares and left MTN Ghana’s shareholding structure unchanged.
The separation is both a regulatory milestone and a strategic signal. By carving out fintech into a distinct legal entity, MTN Ghana is positioning MoMo for deeper partnerships, potential third-party investment, and more focused governance — moves consistent with the MTN Group’s broader continental fintech ambitions.
A Dividend First
MTN declared a first-ever quarterly interim dividend of GH₵0.06 per share — GH₵0.03 from Scancom PLC and GH₵0.03 from the newly formed MMFL. Shareholders on record by June 5 will receive payment on June 18, 2026.
The move is a meaningful departure from MTN Ghana’s historical practice of annual dividend declarations.
A quarterly dividend structure signals confidence in earnings predictability and cash generation — and it reflects the board’s willingness to reward shareholders more regularly as the business matures.
Coming on the heels of 2025’s total payout of GH₵0.48 per share, which represented 81% of profit after tax, the new policy suggests that shareholder returns are becoming a pillar of MTN Ghana’s value proposition, not merely a byproduct of strong performance.
Macro Tailwinds, Capital Commitment
MTN Ghana invested GH₵314 million in capital expenditure during the quarter, directed primarily at network capacity and coverage expansion.
The macroeconomic backdrop has also turned decisively more favourable. Ghana’s inflation, which averaged 23% in Q1 2025, has fallen sharply.
The cedi has stabilised relative to prior years, reducing the currency drag that weighed on earnings comparisons throughout much of 2024 and early 2025.
This article was edited with AI and reviewed by human editors
