MTN Records 17.5% Revenue Growth in H1 2026, Announces R6 Billion Share Buyback
MTN Group delivered a strong first-half performance in 2026, with service revenue rising 17.5% in constant-currency terms and its mobile money business processing transactions worth $330 billion.
The Johannesburg-listed telecoms group also announced plans to repurchase up to R6 billion worth of its own shares as it reported stronger earnings and continued growth across its markets.
MTN said service revenue reached R115 billion during the first six months of 2026, while EBITDA before once-off items climbed to R56 billion, representing an increase of almost 25%.
The company reports its financial results in South African rand and operates across 19 markets, making constant-currency figures useful for measuring underlying performance without the impact of exchange-rate movements.
MTN’s Mobile Money Business Posts Major Growth
MTN’s fintech operations continued to emerge as one of the group’s biggest growth drivers during the period.
The mobile money platform had 70.8 million active users in the first half of the year, supported by 2.3 million active merchants and 1.4 million agents.
Transaction volumes reached 13 billion, representing 17% growth from the same period last year. However, the total value of transactions increased by more than 33%, reaching $330 billion.
The stronger increase in transaction value compared with transaction volume points to customers carrying out larger and potentially more sophisticated financial transactions through the platform.
The growth also reflects MTN’s wider push to expand mobile money beyond smaller transfers and airtime-related payments into areas such as merchant transactions, remittances and business payments.
The group has continued to invest in this strategy, including its move to work with Ant International on the development of a MoMo super-app.
MTN Customer Base Reaches 317.7 Million
MTN ended the first half of 2026 with 317.7 million customers across its 19 markets.
The group also recorded 179 million active data users, highlighting the continued expansion of digital services across its customer base.
With data users accounting for a little over half of the total customer base, MTN still has significant room to increase data adoption. The company is increasingly relying on data services and fintech to support revenue growth as customer usage becomes more digital.
MTN invested nearly R20 billion in capital expenditure during the six-month period, showing that the group continued to fund network and infrastructure development alongside its other growth initiatives.
MTN to Buy Back Shares Worth Up to R6 Billion
Alongside its half-year results, MTN announced plans to repurchase approximately 31 million ordinary shares for a total consideration of up to R6 billion.
The move represents a significant capital-allocation decision as the company balances investment in its operations with returns to shareholders.
The buyback comes after MTN spent nearly R20 billion on capital expenditure during the first half of the year, suggesting that management believes its current investment programme is sufficiently funded while still allowing room to return capital to shareholders.
MTN Group president and chief executive Ralph Mupita said the company’s performance showed that commercial momentum across its markets was translating into stronger earnings, cash flow and returns.
Strong First Half Extends MTN’s Growth Momentum
The latest results continue the growth trajectory MTN established with its 2025 full-year performance and its Ambition 2030 strategy.
The first six months of 2026 indicate that the group has maintained that momentum, with service revenue, earnings and fintech activity all recording notable growth.
MTN did not include headline earnings per share or free cash flow in the announcement covered by these figures. Those measures will provide further insight into how the company’s improved operating performance is translating into distributable earnings and cash generation when the full interim results are considered.
For now, the combination of rising service revenue, rapid growth in mobile money transaction value and the decision to launch a R6 billion share buyback points to a group that is continuing to strengthen its digital businesses while maintaining significant investment across its markets.
