MTN South Africa has reported that its total customers increased by 2.1% to 40.1 million during the third quarter of 2025. However, the company saw its voice revenue decline by 2.8%, and fintech revenue also declined by 5.1%. According to the Group’s financial statement released on Monday, service revenue in its South African market increased by 1.4% in reported currency to R32.01 billion during Q3’25. This was further pressured by the challenges faced by voice services.
The market’s voice revenue remained under pressure, declining 2.8% year-on-year, attributed to the lower performance in the consumer prepaid segment. MTN South Africa noted that the loss was mitigated by its postpaid segment, which delivered voice revenue growth of 4.4%. EBITDA, a measure of operating profit, fell by 4.8%. EBITDA margin was also down by 0.4 percentage points to 35.8% (up 0.1 pp to 35.9% excluding loss/gain on disposal of towers and the proceeds from the sale of device insurance book).
In another result, fintech revenue declined by 5.1%, attributed to a deceleration in Xtratime and a slowdown in recharges. Amid this, MTN SA said its MoMo business delivered ‘robust’ year-on-year growth driven by InsurTech. While the company experienced headwinds in voice and fintech revenue, it remains confident that the period still saw an encouraging performance.
“MTN South Africa delivered a resilient performance amid ongoing intense competitive pressures in the market,” MTN said in commentary with the trading update on Monday.
The customer base increased by 2.1% to 40.1 million, driven by improvements in the customer experience. Data revenue growth was also sustained in the period, with 6.4% growth in Q3, reflecting an acceleration and significant contribution to the 5.0% surge during the first nine months of 2025. Explicitly, data revenue was driven by a 1.7% increase in active data subscribers to 22 million. This was further supported by stronger data traffic, which grew by 24.7%. Also, data revenue contributed 48.8% to total service revenue, up from 47.4% in the prior year.
MTN SA saw a surge in data consumption, with average monthly usage per prepaid active data subscriber growing by 27.0% to 4.1GB. The company noted that this reflects expanding demand, deeper engagement, and smartphone penetration.
“The South African economy showed signs of improvement during the period, supported by a stable inflation environment and more accommodative interest rates. The rand remained relatively steady against major currencies, aided by favourable commodity trends and improved investor sentiment,” it added.
Voice Service Challenges Amid Competition
MTN SA has faced increased competition in its prepaid segment. The company operates in a South African telecoms market that includes players such as Telkom, Vodacom, Cell C, and Rain. The competition, according to the company, drove a 1.7% decline in prepaid service revenue for the period, largely due to pressure on data monetization.
To address these issues, MTN SA said it will continue to focus on its strategic initiatives aimed at accelerating growth in the prepaid segment. These initiatives include ongoing product refinement, targeted regional and personalized bundle pricing, and channel optimization efforts.
In its outlook, MTN SA acknowledged that the prepaid market will remain under pressure in the short term as the business continues to navigate the effects of competitive pressures. However, the service revenue and EBITDA margin are expected to maintain momentum.