MTN Nigeria is making more money than ever. But its average customer is contributing less to that growth. The telecom operator increased service revenue by 25.9% in the first half of 2026 to ₦2.99 trillion ($2.25 billion), and its subscriber base grew 8.9% to 92.2 million, according to its financial results for H1 2026.
Yet MTN’s average revenue per user (ARPU) fell 8.82% to $3.41 in the second quarter of 2026, its first decline since the second quarter of 2025, when ARPU was $3.02, according to MTN Group’s results fact sheet. Local-currency ARPU fell 1.67% to ₦5,101 ($3.81). While the decline in dollar ARPU might reflect currency movements, the fall in naira ARPU suggests that the pressure is not purely an exchange-rate effect. The naira ended March at ₦1,383.58/$ and June at ₦1,379.68/$.
But MTN added 7.5 million subscribers in the first half of the year, and the influx of new, potentially lower-spending customers grappling with double-digit inflation of 15.91% as of June may also be weighing on the average. “From quarter to quarter, our operational strategy may vary depending on market conditions,” Ayham Moussa, MTN’s chief operating officer, said on the company’s July 31 earnings call.
“In some periods, particularly during high consumption seasons, we may focus more on yield. In other periods, especially when affordability is more constrained, we may place greater emphasis on acquisition and use CVM initiatives to drive growth in the number of users.
So, the balance between yield and acquisition can vary by season.” While the company does not disclose ARPU by subscriber cohort, the numbers suggest that MTN Nigeria’s post-tariff growth cycle is beginning to normalise. After a year in which higher prices did much of the work, the company now has to rely on a harder form of growth, which is getting