MTN’s most valuable customers are in Ghana, and the numbers show why

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MTN is earning more from each Ghanaian subscriber than anywhere else in its business.

At $6.76, MTN Ghana now delivers the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) across the group, almost double Nigeria’s $3.60, even after tariff hikes lifted Nigerian ARPU by 65.89% in 2025, according to the group’s 2025 data sheet.

Nigeria is still MTN’s biggest market. MTN Nigeria overtook South Africa to become the group’s largest profit contributor in 2025, generating ₦5.2 trillion ($3.77 billion) in service revenue and accounting for over a quarter of group revenue. 

The numbers highlight a shift in MTN’s business: value is no longer coming from its largest markets, but from those with more stable currencies and pricing power. 

While Nigeria continues to drive subscriber growth and headline revenue, inflation and currency volatility are compressing what each user is worth in real terms. Ghana, by contrast, is converting macro stability into higher, more predictable earnings per subscriber, making it MTN’s most efficient market despite its smaller size.

Ghana is converting stability into growth

MTN Ghana’s numbers show that the business is not only growing, but monetising efficiently.

Service revenue rose 36.2% in 2025, while Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), the amount of cash it generates from its business before accounting for financing and accounting costs, climbed 43.5%, pushing margins to 60.1%. Profit after tax jumped 55.9%. 

At about 60%, MTN Ghana is running a more profitable operation than MTN Nigeria, where margins recovered to 52.7% after a difficult 2024.

Ghana’s efficiency has been driven by a stable macro-environment.

Inflation declined from 23.5% in January to 5.4% in December 2025, and the Ghanaian cedi strengthened by about 40% against the dollar, closing the year at GHS10.45/$ from GHS14.7/$ in 2024.

This stability has allowed MTN to retain value in dollar terms. With 31.2 million subscribers, Ghana is far smaller than Nigeria, but its revenue per user is far more valuable than that of Nigeria.

Nigeria still brings the volume

With 87.3 million subscribers and ₦5.2 trillion ($3.77 billion) in service revenue, MTN Nigeria is the group’s growth engine. MTN Group made ZAR218.50 billion ($12.21 billion) in 2025.

Revenue rose by 55.1% in 2025, while profit after tax rebounded to ₦1.11 trillion ($803.89 million), reversing the prior year’s loss. Much of that growth was driven by tariff adjustments and increased data usage.

But macro conditions continue to dilute those gains in dollar terms.

While the naira strengthened to the ₦1,400/$ region in 2025 from ₦1,500/$ in 2024, it is still far off the less than ₦1000/$ average it held before 2024.

Inflation has also remained at double figures, closing 2025 at 15.5%. MTN Nigeria’s ARPU, while recovering from a low of $2.09 in Q3 2024, remains far below its $5.03 peak in early 2023.

In effect, Nigeria is delivering more users, more traffic, and more revenue, but less value per user in real terms.

South Africa sits between

MTN South Africa’s ARPU stands at $5.32, supported by a stronger base of postpaid users and higher consumer purchasing power.

However, South Africa, with 40.6 million subscribers, has revenue growing at a slower pace, only increasing by 1.98% to ZAR44.03 billion ($2.46 billion) in 2025.

The rand performed strongly against the dollar, averaging 17.89 in 2025, versus the average exchange rate of 18.32 in 2024

Even with relative macro stability and slow economic growth, gross domestic product expanded just 0.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, exacerbating market competitive pressures.

Beyond the big three, ARPUs grew across the group’s 16 subsidiaries, reflecting its improved performance in 2025 as it crossed 300 million customers.

Across MTN’s 16 markets, ARPUs improved in 2025 as the group crossed 300 million subscribers.

Overall, MTN’s biggest market is no longer its best market. As long as currency pressure and inflation persist, Nigeria will keep delivering volume without matching value, leaving smaller, more stable markets like Ghana to do the real financial heavy lifting.