MTN grows Q1 profit to N74bn despite losing 5m subscribers
Telecommunications giant, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has reported an improved profit after tax (PAT) of N73.75 billion for the first quarter of 2021, up 42.35 per cent from N51.74 billion in the same quarter of last year.
The telecommunications company said its profit before tax rose to N102.99 billion in Q1 2021 from N76.91 billion in the same period last year.
The positive numbers were posted despite a decline in the number of subscribers on its network which it puts at five million.
The improved profits came on the back of a 17.06 per cent uptick in its revenue for its operations during the three-month period. The revenue stood at N385.32 billion from N329.17 billion, according to its unaudited financial statements.
The leading telco said its mobile subscribers declined by five million to 71.5 million in the first quarter of 2021 due to the effects of customer churn and the regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations.
Also as a consequent of these, active data users declined marginally by 71,000 to 32.5 million.
Its service revenue increased by 17.2 per cent to N385.2 billion while profit before tax grew by 33.9 per cent to N102.9 billion.
Comment:
“We made good progress in the first quarter of 2021 despite the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, said.
He said the service revenue in Q1 was supported by growth of 42.6 per cent and eight per cent in data and voice revenue respectively.
Toriola said the company would continue to collaborate with the Nigerian Communications Commission and the Nigerian Identity Management Commission to update subscriber records with the National Identity Number.
He said, “Thus far, more than 35 million subscribers have submitted their NINs as at April 30, 2021, representing approximately 50 per cent of our subscriber base and 63 per cent of service revenue.”
He added that the company was actively supporting the government’s NIN enrolment programme, with 182 points of enrolment active across the country.
