For MTN and Airtel, a good story on telecom display board, by Okoh Aihe

In an economy where a number of indicators are pointing downwards, it becomes difficult to point at positives and to have something conspicuously stamped on the display board as an unfolding omen of good happenings. There are so many depressing things to point to – the fuel pump price which is stronger than the minimum wage, insecurity that is convoluted and epidemic, an economy that shows promise but with weaknesses impacting too negatively on the people, a political environment with too much theatrics and suspense, more than any drama or a movie could ever provide, and a people not so sure of what tomorrow brings in spite of the orchestra of el dorado.  It is so easy to be weighed down by this plethora of concerns, but the flipside is the other picture which is bold and bright with figures and stats which point to a much better story, of a people trying to do something to redeem their humanity, of a sector that contributes more than it is appreciated. 

Each time I look at the nation’s telecommunications sector, one story comes to mind, an allegory from the Bible. Having been thrown into some level of distress and forlorness, John the Baptist sent some emissary to Jesus Christ, to find out whether he was the Messiah or the faithfuls should expect another. His response was sharp but illustrative. Having recalled some of his great works that could not be hidden or overlooked, Jesus instructed the emissary to tell John the Baptist what they have seen. He relied on examples to demonstrate evidence of his works. I have always told myself that examples tell better stories than words can ever capture. The telecommunications sector reinforces my belief always and there are several examples from the industry that can weave a better story quite more than the platitudes we hear daily. If I worked for this government and you complained about the economy, I would fortify myself with happenings in the sector to prepare an adequate response that will signpost achievements that cannot be overlooked.. 

Permit me therefore to state a couple of examples which in a way necessitated a seeming prologue to this article. Technology service provider, MTN, last week, released earnings for the first quarter of 2026. Total revenue was N1.49trillion. This is something huge for a company which only a couple of years ago was perpetually in the red, piling up losses year in and year out. Details of the revenue are even more interesting. While voice which used to be the mainstay of mobile businesses contributed a hefty N499.1bn, data almost doubled that amount with an outstanding yield of N827.2bn. Data users actually grew to an attractive 55million with user average hitting 14.3GB, even as the service provider also grew its subscriber base by 2.3m revenue-generating subscribers. Not just growth for growth sake but the kind of growth that brings money, the sort displayed in the quarterly report. Total subscribers on the MTN network within the period under review stood at 89.5m. For MTN, things are looking very bright. Profit after tax more than doubled to N355.5bn from N133.7bn a year earlier. A close look at industry stats in the entire telecommunications ecosystem give the indication that MTN is only in competition with itself. 

Karl Toriola, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer said: ‘’We sustained strong commercial momentum, maintained disciplined cost management and accelerated investment in our network, translating underlying demand into robust financial performance.” Furthermore, MTN Group is to acquire 60 percent of MoMo Payment Service Bank and Y’ello Digital Financial Services, with MTN Nigeria still retaining 40 percent. Other details of the transaction include a capital injection of N152.1bn. 

Also within the period, Airtel released earnings for last quarter ending March 31, 2026. Airtel Africa revenue increased by 22.40 percent to $1.42bn from $1.16bn, with profit before tax standing at $273m. Profit after tax stood at a healthy $156mn. The operator also reported a data customer increase by 17.4 percent which translates to 75.6m data subscribers. Data usage also grew with more smart phone penetration. It is instructive that both MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa attributed their strong growth to the positive developments in the Nigerian market which include: stability of the Naira, a tariff review by the regulator and also some salient regulatory decisions which are encouraging operators to invest more in their networks. EVC of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida has regularly bragged that he has extracted a promise from the operators to invest $1bn on thier networks. It seems, however, that such investment is already yielding results as the operators stated in their report. 

For instance, in March 2026 alone, 1,422,764.54 terabytes(TB) of data were consumed by Nigerian subscribers across networks and this marked a significant increase over the preceding months. Unfortunately, a source in the regulatory agency would tell this writer that as operators are building out network capacity, such capacity is quickly taken up by netizens who seem to live more on the internet. Fortunately, whether their activities are nocturnal or diurnal, such activities translate to healthy balance sheets which MTN and Airtel have reported with joy. This writer also has it on good authority that there is a particular operator who is putting about $1bn fresh investment on its network, explaining that such development will increase the pace of competition and quality of service provisioning in the industry. Since both MTN and Airtel are publicly quoted companies, their earnings and other activities are never masqueraded but released quarterly as required of quoted companies. Their figures therefore serve beyond the purpose of showing the strenght and financial health of the organisations but equally serve the template for critical stakeholders to assess the investment environment. 

While failings in the past, especially pre-2025 challenged the regulator to listen to Mobile Network Operators(MNOs) and reviewed tariff upward by 50 percent, which impact has been duly acknowledged by the operators, it is only safe to observe that similar gesture in the power sector has not yielded any improvement. Instead, the power sector is denominated in bands – Band A, Band B and Band C, which makes no difference since supply remains very erratic across Bands, and in some cases not available at all. It also means there are certain things the regulator and operators are doing which are translating into positive results in the industry. Unfortunately, there is hardly any such testimony to give in some other industries. Therefore, MTN Nigeria and Airtel translate to very good and attractive examples which can always advertise the good opportunities in the Nigerian market, a positive, I pray the country should be able to use to her advantage. Both organisations provide examples and a narrative that negativity can hardly inter. 

The post For MTN and Airtel, a good story on telecom display board, by Okoh Aihe appeared first on Vanguard News.