MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Thursday, released its unaudited results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019, showing impressive revenues in service delivery, voice, data, fintech, including earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
The results also contributed to an increase in its subscriber number by 2.1 million, thus bringing the total number of subscribers on its network to 60.3 million as at March 31, 2019.
In a statement signed by its Senior Manager, Investor Relations, Chima Nwaokoma, and its Senior Manager, External Relations, Funso Aina, the telecoms company attributed the increase in revenues to the IFRS 16 accounting standards it adopted in 2019, in line with global best practice and adjustments.
The telecoms company however said it had a shortfall in its digital revenue, which decreased by 68 per cent.
According to the statement, the unaudited Q1 results showed that service revenue increased by 13.4 per cent; voice revenue increased by 12.7 per cent; data revenue increased by 32.4 per cent; digital revenue decreased by 68.0 per cent; frevenue increased by 22.9 per cent; EBITDA margin increased by 11.5pp to 53.3 per cent; while Mobile subscribers increased by 2.1 million to 60.3 million.
Commenting on the results, CEO, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Ferdi Moolman, said: “Our first quarter performance was in line with expectations, as service revenue remained resilient with double digit growth on the back of improvements in voice and data revenues. We connected a further 2.1 million people to our network, providing them access to worldwide communication services, while additional 1.7 million people are able to access the possibilities that the internet provides.
“This growth is built on our focus on customer centric delivery and in particular on improved customer retention, our continuous focus on value for money propositions and further network roll-out and enhancement.”
According to Moolman, Q1 2019 saw a significant increase in the telecom company’s capital expenditure programme, with focus on Long Term Evolution (LTE) services, where the company rolled out 1,188 sites across its key focus cities. In addition, the successful transfer of our 800MHz spectrum from Visafone to MTN Nigeria will further enable improvements to network coverage and service quality.
Source: THISDAY
