---
title: MTN Nigeria Has More Customers Than Ever. Now It Needs to Make Them Spend More
description: MTN Nigeria reached a record 92.2 million subscribers in H1 2026, but average revenue per user declined. Here’s why data, broadband and fintech could shape its next phase of growth.
image: https://afroform.com/hubfs/images%20(1).jpg
---

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## MTN Nigeria Has More Customers Than Ever. Now It Needs to Make Them Spend More

## ![images (1)](https://afroform.com/hs-fs/hubfs/images%20(1).jpg?width=678&height=452&name=images%20(1).jpg)

MTN Nigeria is growing at an impressive pace. Its customer base is expanding, revenue is rising, and data consumption continues to climb.

But there is a problem hiding underneath those numbers: **the average MTN customer is contributing less revenue to the business.**

In the first half of 2026, MTN Nigeria recorded **₦2.99 trillion ($2.25 billion) in service revenue**, representing a 25.9% increase from the same period in 2025. Its subscriber base also grew by 8.9% to a record **92.2 million customers**.

Yet average revenue per user (ARPU) declined.

Dollar-denominated ARPU fell 8.82% to **$3.41 in Q2 2026**, while local-currency ARPU dropped 1.67% to **₦5,101**.

That combination tells an important story about Nigeria's telecom market: **MTN is getting bigger, but growth is becoming harder to extract from each individual customer.**

## The Tariff Effect Is Wearing Off

MTN's strong revenue growth in 2025 was driven largely by higher prices.

In early 2025, the company implemented a **50% tariff increase**, following regulatory approval for operators to adjust prices. By Q2 2025, MTN Nigeria's service revenue had grown 67.9% year-on-year.

The impact was significant. MTN could earn substantially more from customers it already had without necessarily needing millions of new subscribers.

But that effect could not last forever.

By Q2 2026, the previous tariff adjustments had been fully annualised, and quarterly revenue growth had slowed to **13.3%**.

“Growth moderated in Q2, primarily reflecting the full annualisation of prior price adjustments,” MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola said in the company's H1 results.

This means MTN can no longer depend on price increases as its primary growth engine.

The next challenge is more complicated: **getting customers to consume more services while keeping those services affordable enough to retain them.**

## Millions of New Customers Are Changing the Average

MTN added **7.5 million subscribers during the first half of 2026**, taking its total customer base to 92.2 million.

That is a major achievement, but rapid customer acquisition can also put pressure on ARPU.

Nigeria's cost-of-living pressures remain significant, with inflation at 15.91% in June 2026. For many consumers, telecommunications spending has to compete with food, transportation, housing and other essential expenses.

MTN's chief operating officer, Ayham Moussa, explained that the company adjusts its strategy depending on market conditions.

During periods when customers can spend more, MTN can focus on increasing revenue per user. When affordability becomes more challenging, the company may instead prioritise acquiring users and encouraging usage.

The result is a delicate balance between **customer growth and customer value**.

For now, MTN appears to be choosing scale.

## Data Is MTN's Biggest Opportunity

If MTN wants to increase the value of its customer base without simply raising prices, data is the obvious opportunity.

Average data usage per subscriber increased **15.2%** in H1 2026, while total data traffic rose **25.8%**. Smartphone penetration also reached **66.4%**.

More importantly, data revenue increased **38.4%** during the period.

That is considerably stronger than overall service revenue growth.

“Data remains our largest structural growth opportunity,” Toriola said.

The opportunity is particularly important because Nigeria is still a relatively low-ARPU market compared with some other MTN markets.

### Nigeria Has the Customers. Other Markets Generate More From Them.

MTN Nigeria has the group's largest subscriber base at **92.2 million**.

For comparison:

- **Nigeria:** 92.2 million subscribers | $3.41 ARPU
- **South Africa:** 39.5 million | $5.26 ARPU
- **Ghana:** 32.8 million | $6.66 ARPU

Nigeria has almost three times Ghana's subscriber base, but Ghana generates roughly twice as much revenue per customer.

This highlights MTN Nigeria's central opportunity.

The company does not necessarily need to find another 90 million customers. It needs to find ways to make its existing 92.2 million customers more valuable.

## The Smartphone Problem

There is still plenty of room for growth.

Nigeria's broadband penetration stood at **56.79%**, while the country is expected to add millions of unique mobile subscribers between 2025 and 2030.

But converting that opportunity into higher revenue is not guaranteed.

Smartphones are becoming more expensive, creating another barrier for price-sensitive consumers who might otherwise move from basic connectivity to higher-value data services.

For MTN, smartphone adoption matters because customers with smartphones are more likely to consume video, social media, streaming, cloud services and other data-intensive products.

The company is already encouraging this behaviour through bundles targeted at platforms such as YouTube and TikTok.

The bigger question is whether customers can afford to keep consuming more.

## Home Broadband Could Create Another Revenue Stream

MTN is also looking beyond traditional mobile data.

The company is expanding its **fibre-to-the-home (FTTH)** business and using 5G fixed wireless access to reach more households.

This could become an important part of its strategy because home internet allows MTN to monetise customers beyond their mobile phones.

Instead of relying entirely on mobile data bundles, the company can sell higher-value broadband connections to households, businesses and other customers.

It also gives MTN another way to benefit from Nigeria's growing demand for reliable, high-speed internet.

## MTN Wants 30 Million Fintech Customers

There is another part of the strategy that could become even more significant: **financial services.**

MTN Nigeria currently has about **5 million fintech customers** and wants to reach **30 million over the medium term**.

The logic is straightforward.

MTN already has access to 92.2 million customers. If even a fraction of them begin using its financial products, the company could create an entirely new revenue stream without having to acquire them from scratch.

The opportunity is significant, but competition is intense.

Digital financial services in Nigeria are already dominated by established fintech players, while MTN is still expanding its capabilities across areas such as payments and lending.

So fintech could become a major growth engine, but it will require investment and strong execution.

## Nigeria Is Still MTN's Most Important Market

Despite its lower ARPU, Nigeria remains extremely important to the MTN Group.

The group generated **ZAR 115.32 billion ($7.15 billion)** in revenue during H1 2026, with Nigeria contributing approximately **30.64%** of the total.

That demonstrates why Nigeria's huge customer base remains strategically valuable.

The issue is not whether MTN should continue investing in Nigeria.

It is **how much value it can extract from the customers it already has.**

## Scale Can Only Carry MTN So Far

MTN Nigeria's 92.2 million subscribers give it an enormous advantage.

But scale eventually reaches a limit.

As subscriber growth slows, simply adding more customers will become less effective as a growth strategy. At that point, MTN will need to increase revenue through deeper engagement with its existing customers.

That could mean:

- More data consumption
- Greater smartphone adoption
- Increased 4G and 5G usage
- Home broadband subscriptions
- Financial services
- Digital products and services
- Higher-value enterprise and consumer offerings

The strategy is already taking shape.

MTN is moving from **“How do we get more customers?”** to a more difficult question:

**“How do we make our existing customers more valuable?”**

## The Next Phase of MTN Nigeria's Growth

MTN Nigeria's H1 2026 results show a business that is still growing strongly, but the nature of that growth is changing.

In 2025, higher tariffs did much of the heavy lifting.

In 2026, MTN has a record customer base, stronger data consumption and several opportunities to diversify beyond traditional mobile services. But customers are also more price-sensitive, smartphone affordability remains a challenge, and ARPU is under pressure.

The company cannot simply keep raising prices.

Its next phase of growth will depend on convincing millions of Nigerians to **use more, connect more and eventually buy more services from the same ecosystem.**

MTN already has the scale.

Now it has to prove that **scale can become deeper customer value.**

## From the blog

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