South Africa’s MTN service revenue falls 18.5% in Q3

Africa’s biggest telecoms operator MTN Group reported on Thursday an 18.5% fall in service revenue in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, hit by the devaluation of the Nigerian naira and operational challenges in Sudan.

MTN, with 288 million subscribers in 17 markets across Africa, said its group service revenue fell to 127.4 billion rand ($6.99 billion) from 156.3 billion rand in the same quarter last year.

The group reported a 48.7% plunge in revenue from MTN Nigeria due to the devaluation of the currency, but noted that “the naira was less volatile on a sequential basis in Q3 than in preceding quarters”.

Its biggest contributor, MTN South Africa (MTN SA) grew marginally by 3.3% and Uganda followed suit with 5% growth helped by a firmer Ugandan shilling compared to last year.

The company said its subscriber base grew by 1.6% to 288 million, affected by “subscriber registration regulations in Nigeria and a decline in users in Sudan, where millions of people have been displaced by the conflict.”

MTN estimates capital expenditure at between 28-33 billion rand for the full year and looks to spend more on Nigeria, encouraged by stronger demand in the country despite the regulatory challenges.

Its shares were down 1.3% at 0727 GMT.