We are pleased to report a strong underlying performance and strategic execution for 2024.
Ralph Mupita Group President and CEO
The geopolitical landscape was unpredictable, and post year-end developments, looks poised to continue. What was particularly unprecedented in 2024 was the large number of countries globally that held elections – including many MTN markets, such as South Africa and Ghana. In the course of 2024, we also had to navigate the knock-on effects on our markets and business from the flux in international geopolitics. In Sudan, the ongoing conflict in the country negatively affected our operational and financial performance.
In navigating arising disruptions, where necessary, we implemented measures to ensure the safety of our staff and infrastructure and that our network services remained as functional and available as possible. We sustained our operational and strategic execution to minimise the erosion of value stemming from the effects of geopolitical volatility on our business. Additionally, we continued to focus on our work to expand digital and financial inclusion to support Africa's progress. In 2024, we further simplified the MTN portfolio by exiting certain markets, which we believe has enhanced the overall focus and risk profile of our business going forward.
Despite the challenges in the broader macro environment, we sustained the operational momentum of our business and progressed some of our key strategic initiatives. In addition to geopolitical volatility, our macroeconomic context in 2024 was characterised by sharp devaluation of the naira and elevated inflation in some markets.
Average inflation (%)
The average blended inflation across our markets trended lower, supported by falling global inflation and moderating emerging prices, albeit with a slight uptick as the year closed. Local currencies in our markets experienced continued volatility throughout 2024, with overall weakening trends against the South African rand and US dollar. These factors put pressure on consumer spending power in our markets, as well as business operating costs.
Our business performance was also hampered by subsea cable cuts, notably in Q1, which negatively impacted connectivity for the African continent, particularly West African markets. We responded swiftly to restore connectivity in the affected markets, which helped to support the overall business performance of our operations in the region, particularly in the second half of the year.
In terms of the regulatory and competitive environments, we continued to implement SIM registration regulations in certain markets and effected price adjustments in key markets, such as South Africa and Ghana. Among our larger markets, MTN South Africa in particular, faced an intensification of competition, notably in prepaid. In Nigeria, the regulator approved price adjustments of up to 50% for industry operators in January 2025, which MTN Nigeria began to phase in across its offering from mid‑February 2025.
Against this backdrop, we continued to invest in the quality and capacity of our networks and platforms, deploying capex (ex‑leases) of R29.9 billion to support the growth of our business.
We reported solid commercial performance with encouraging progress on our strategic priorities. We are pleased with the underlying performance of our business in the year, with an improvement in the second half of the year in key financial performance measures.
In terms of our commercial performance, our results were supported by an increase in the subscriber base to 291 million, a 6.2 million net addition in customers, excluding the markets we exited during the year. MTN now operates in 16 markets. Active data subscribers rose by 7.7% (excluding JVs) while MoMo MAU increased to 63.1 million (a 0.9% increase) despite initiatives focused on enhancing the quality, stickiness and profitability of the ecosystem.
Our ongoing investments enabled us to capture the ongoing structural demand for our data and fintech services in our markets, with traffic up by 37.3% (excluding JVs) and fintech transaction volumes up 15.3% (value up 35.1%*).
In terms of our financial performance, at a high level, we are pleased to have delivered service revenue growth of 13.8%* in FY 2024 and EBITDA expansion of 10.2%*. This outcome was achieved in spite of the elevated inflation and local currency weakness across our markets. More on our financial performance is detailed in the Group CFO section of this report.
We made good progress in executing our key strategic priorities in a challenging environment. In particular, we highlight five priorities that we completed in 2024.
Creating shared value is one of our strategic priorities. MTN remains resolute in our sustainability commitments by integrating ESG principles into our strategy, enhancing business resilience, mitigating risks and fostering long-term value creation. In this regard, we made significant progress in our various initiatives in 2024, which was reflected in improved scores from global ESG rating agencies.
We are excited about the year ahead and beyond, and will continue to execute on our commercial strategies to deliver growth and value unlock for our stakeholders.
Geopolitical conditions remain fluid and recent policy changes regarding tariffs and the provision of global aid create increased uncertainty. This may impact the evolution of key macroeconomic indicators affecting our markets, and therefore our business, including the economic growth outlooks, as well as inflation and interest rate trends. ST, MT
In this regard, we were encouraged by the H2 trends in our various indicators in our markets. These supported some of the acceleration in our financial performance in H2 2024. The continued normalisation of these factors, particularly the stability of the naira, will positively impact consumer spending power and our business operations. However, the evolving global geopolitical landscape presents increased risks. ST, MT, LT
Broadly, within our connectivity operations, the key focus for MTN SA will be to accelerate topline growth, EBITDA margin and free cash flow generation in the short term; and recover its financial performance to its medium-term guidance corridor. ST, MT
For MTN Nigeria, the priority is to implement price adjustments approved by the regulator in Nigeria, which we expect to boost topline growth, profitability and free cash flows. ST, MT
Within our broader Markets portfolio, our focus will be to sustain the strong momentum in key markets such as Ghana and Uganda, as well as continue our efforts to turn around the performances of our other operations, which are especially challenged by macro and regulatory pressures. ST, MT
Fintech remains an exciting opportunity for MTN, and the key thrust will be to accelerate the sustainable and profitable expansion of the platform's ecosystem.
MoMo PSB in Nigeria is a key focus in this regard. With the Mastercard partnership now in place and initiatives being rolled out in various markets, the scaling of advanced services will underpin the medium to long-term growth and profitability of the fintech business. MT, LT
We maintain our overall medium-term guidance framework (see Our outlook), which includes the investment to support our ambitions – we target capex of R30-35 billion (ex‑leases) for FY 2025, based on current currency assumptions. For MTN Nigeria, we have reinstated its medium-term guidance framework and provided stakeholders with guidance for FY 2025 as price adjustments take effect. ST, MT
Our prospects and investment case are underpinned by the structural demand we see in data and fintech. As a business, we remain resolute in our commitment to accelerating Africa's digital future, and will maintain our focus on operational excellence and strategic execution to capture the exciting growth opportunities in our footprint.
