MTN Nigeria has reported a remarkably strong financial performance for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, signaling a significant recovery after two challenging years marked by naira devaluation, escalating lease costs, and an increasingly stringent tax environment. The telecommunications giant recorded a substantial 41.6% increase in revenue, reaching ₦1.498 trillion, up from ₦1.058 trillion in the corresponding period of 2025, adding an impressive ₦440 billion in just one quarter.

The company's profitability metrics showed even more dramatic improvements. Operating profit surged by 84.5% to ₦632.3 billion, while profit before tax witnessed an exceptional 169.6% growth, climbing to ₦546.4 billion. After the deduction of taxes, MTN Nigeria’s net profit for the quarter stood at ₦355.5 billion, nearly tripling the ₦133.7 billion recorded in Q1 2025. Consequently, earnings per share rose significantly from ₦6.37 to ₦16.95 over the twelve-month period.

A pivotal shift in MTN Nigeria's business model has seen data services replace voice calls as the primary revenue driver. In Q1 2026, data revenue soared to ₦826.1 billion, significantly surpassing voice call revenue of ₦450.7 billion. This gap has widened considerably compared to Q1 2025, when data revenue was ₦529 billion against ₦353 billion from voice. This structural shift, encompassing mobile data, fixed broadband, and data bundles, now generates almost twice the revenue of voice services, with no signs of reversal. Additionally, value-added services, including mobile money and airtime lending, contributed ₦64.1 billion, a notable increase from ₦35.9 billion in Q1 2025. The Consumer Business Unit remained the dominant revenue contributor, accounting for ₦1.278 trillion of the total, followed by the Enterprise Business Unit with ₦160.2 billion and the Wholesale Business Unit with ₦59.8 billion.

MTN Nigeria’s substantial financial success also translated into significant tax contributions. The company paid ₦190.9 billion in income tax for the single quarter, reflecting an effective tax rate of 34.94%. The current tax charge amounted to ₦229.3 billion, which included ₦199.7 billion in company income tax and a new development levy of ₦29.6 billion, a charge absent in the previous year. A deferred tax credit of ₦38.4 billion partially offset this total, but the quarterly tax bill alone is larger than the full-year revenue of most businesses listed on the Nigerian Exchange, underscoring the company's scale and economic impact.

In line with its growth strategy, MTN Nigeria dramatically ramped up its capital expenditure. Infrastructure spending for the quarter reached ₦428 billion, a massive 145% increase from ₦174.3 billion in Q1 2025. This investment bolstered network infrastructure on the balance sheet from ₦1.527 trillion to ₦1.643 trillion, with capital work-in-progress expanding from ₦153.6 billion to ₦280.7 billion. The company has committed ₦997.4 billion in uncapitalised capital expenditure, indicating a sustained and aggressive build program for the remainder of the year, to be funded through operating cash flows and existing borrowing facilities.

The company's robust stock performance also presented a unique accounting challenge. MTN Nigeria's stock price surged by 48.7% from ₦511 to ₦760 during Q1 2026, elevating its market capitalization from ₦10.73 trillion to ₦15.96 trillion. While beneficial for shareholders, this rise impacted the company’s phantom share scheme for employees, where payouts are linked to the share price. As a result, the share-based expense for the quarter skyrocketed tenfold to ₦33.8 billion, compared to ₦3.2 billion in Q1 2025. This single item was the primary driver for total employee costs jumping from ₦24.1 billion to ₦65.8 billion year-on-year, and the share-based payments liability on the balance sheet growing from ₦44.4 billion to ₦77.9 billion within three months.

Regarding its financial obligations, MTN Nigeria successfully reduced its total borrowings from ₦527.7 billion at the end of 2025 to ₦377.7 billion by March 31, 2026, through a repayment of ₦154 billion without incurring new debt. Crucially, the company has now fully repaid all its foreign currency-denominated borrowings, eliminating its exposure to dollar interest rate fluctuations. However, lease liabilities remain a significant component of the balance sheet, totaling ₦2.38 trillion, primarily due to long-term contracts for tower space and network infrastructure. Despite current liabilities totaling ₦2.43 trillion against current assets of ₦1.36 trillion, the directors classify this net current liabilities position as a classification issue rather than a liquidity concern, supported by strong net operating cash flows of ₦764.1 billion generated during the quarter and cash and cash equivalents of ₦506.7 billion.

Finally, MTN Nigeria’s mobile money arm, MoMo Payment Service Bank, demonstrated remarkable growth, with customer deposits nearly doubling in a single quarter. Deposits increased from ₦9.8 billion at the end of 2025 to ₦18.9 billion by March 31, 2026. This surge is attributed to higher wallet utilization and shifts in customer funding behavior. While still a relatively small contributor to the overall group financials, the pace of deposit growth in Q1 2026 represents the fastest recorded in recent quarters, highlighting MoMo's emerging potential.