Telecommunications group MTN has achieved a solid performance during the first quarter of 2020, with double-digit service revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) growth.

During the three months to March, the company increased group service revenue by 11.1% and Ebitda by 15.6%, with strong contributions from MTN Nigeria and MTN Ghana’s double-digit service revenue growth and improving Ebitda margins.

MTN Nigeria’s service revenue increased by 16.7% and Ebitda increased 15.3%, with an Ebitda margin of 52.7%.

MTN Ghana achieved a 20.6% rise in service revenue, supported by double-digit voice and data growth and continued strong fintech revenue growth, while its Ebitda margin expanded 5.3 percentage points to 53.3%.

MTN South Africa’s service revenue decreased by 6.2%, with an Ebitda margin of 36.6%, down from 38.8% last year.

“MTN South Africa’s performance was negatively impacted by the wholesale business, as we continue to account for Cell C roaming revenue on a cash basis, as well as the loss of revenue from the Telkom roaming agreement which came to an end in June 2019,” said MTN Group president and CEO Rob Shuter.

Overall, subscribers increased by 6.6-million to 257.3-million, with active data subscribers increasing by 2.9-million to reach 98.3-million.

Active MTN Mobile Money customers increased by 400 000 to 35.1-million.

The group recorded voice, data and fintech revenue growth of 6.3%, 26.4% and 26% respectively and digital revenue has returned to growth, increasing by 15.6%.

Meanwhile, MTN South Africa’s prepaid business started to recover, while the postpaid customer base saw an increase in net additions in challenging macro and competitive environment.

“We are encouraged by the stabilisation of the consumer prepaid business, which was affected by the implementation of the new out-of-bundle data use rules. Also pleasing was the continued progress in the enterprise business, which recorded 8.2% service revenue growth,” Shuter added.

The revival in the enterprise business continued, with growth for a second consecutive quarter reported.

MTN South Africa increased its total subscribers by 75 000 quarter-on-quarter to 29-million.

Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria continued the fourth-quarter momentum with double-digit service revenue growth accelerating to 16.7%, supported by voice and data growth.

Voice revenue growth remained healthy at 7.4%, supported by subscriber growth. MTN Nigeria continued to gain market share and added 4.2-million subscribers to its network to end the quarter at 68.5-million, he said.

“The digital business returned to growth, with revenue increasing 63.7% supported by an improved uptake of products within our portfolio of digital offerings and improvements in the customer journey experience,” Shuter noted.

During the quarter, MTN Nigeria added 1.7-million new users, bringing the active base for digital subscriptions to 3.8-million users, while its fintech revenue grew by 36.3%.

Further, the enterprise business segment continued to improve, with revenue growth of 12.7%.