MTN South Africa’s Voice Revenue Dropped 2.8% in Q3 of 2025, Despite Reaching 40.1 Million Subscribers

MTN South Africa’s recent report shows an interesting mix of good and challenging news. While the total number of customers grew by 2.1% to reach 40.1 million in the third quarter of 2025, MTN South Africa’s voice revenue dropped 2.8% in Q3. This decline in voice revenue highlights some of the struggles the company is facing despite growing its user base.

According to the financial update released on Monday, MTN South Africa’s overall service revenue went up by 1.4% in reported currency, hitting R32.01 billion during the quarter. But this positive growth came with the pressure of shrinking voice service earnings. Specifically, MTN South Africa’s voice revenue drop was mainly driven by weaker results in the consumer prepaid market. Yet, the company saw some relief as its postpaid segment actually grew voice revenue by 4.4%, helping to soften the impact.

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The report also showed that EBITDA, which measures operating profit, fell by 4.8%, with the EBITDA margin slipping slightly by 0.4 percentage points to 35.8%. When you exclude certain one-off factors like the sale of towers and device insurance, the margin actually nudged up by 0.1 percentage points to 35.9%. So, while some areas took a hit, others showed slight improvement.

Fintech revenue also faced a setback, dropping 5.1%. This was linked to slower growth in Xtratime and a fall in recharges. However, MTN’s mobile money business, known as MoMo, still posted strong year-on-year gains, helped by growth in InsurTech services.

Despite the drops in voice and fintech revenue, MTN remains optimistic. The company described its overall Q3 performance as resilient, standing strong amid intense competition in South Africa’s telecom market. One highlight was the growth in its customer base, which went up by 2.1% to 40.1 million, a rise credited to better customer experience improvements.

Data revenue also stole the spotlight, growing by 6.4% in Q3, which accelerated the rise to 5.0% for the first nine months of 2025. This growth was supported by a 1.7% increase in active data users, who now number 22 million, and by a 24.7% jump in data traffic. Data revenue made up nearly half (48.8%) of the total service revenue, improving from 47.4% the previous year.

MTN South Africa saw a big surge in data usage, with average monthly data consumption for prepaid active users jumping 27% to 4.1GB. This shows not just growing demand but also stronger engagement and more smartphone use across the network.

The company also pointed to positive economic signs during the period, mentioning a stable inflation environment, accommodative interest rates, and a steady rand against major currencies. These factors, along with favorable commodity trends and better investor sentiment, helped support the business environment.

On the voice service front, competition remains a tough hurdle for MTN South Africa, especially in the prepaid sector. The telecom market includes tough competitors like Telkom, Vodacom, Cell C, and Rain. The competition pressured prepaid service revenue down by 1.7% during the quarter, mainly hitting data monetisation efforts.

MTN said it will keep pushing strategic initiatives focused on growing prepaid customers, including refining products, offering regionally targeted and personalized bundle pricing, and optimizing sales channels.

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Looking ahead, MTN expects prepaid pressures to continue in the near term but remains confident about maintaining momentum in service revenue and EBITDA margin despite the challenges.

Overall, the picture is clear: MTN South Africa’s voice revenue dropped 2.8% in Q3, showing ongoing challenges in the voice segment under competitive stress. Still, the company’s growing subscriber base, solid data revenue growth, and resilient financial performance point to steady progress and a focus on adapting in a tough market.

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