Telcos Earn N1.92tn From Calls, Data 3rd November 2022

MTN and Airtel made N1.92tn from calls and data between January and September, 2022.

This is according to data from the financial results of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and Airtel Africa’s Nigeria subsidiary.

This is an 18.27 per cent increase from the N1.62tn that was earned by the telcos on calls and data in the corresponding period of 2021.

MTN Nigeria revealed that its customers spent N753.78bn and N549.66bn on calls and data respectively while Airtel Nigeria customers spent N342.71bn ($780m) and N274.61bn ($625m) on calls and data, respectively.

In its result, MTN stated that inflation, supply chain uncertainties and foreign exchange scarcity were putting financial pressure on consumers and businesses.

It said, “Our operating environment remained challenging in the first nine months of 2022. The ongoing global macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility continued to drive up energy, food, and general inflation, with the annual inflation rate in Nigeria rising to a 17-year high of 20.8 per cent in September 2022.

“Supply chain uncertainties were exacerbated by the availability of foreign currency needed for capital expenditure. These headwinds continue to put severe financial pressure on consumers and businesses.”

MTN’s result disclosed that data traffic grew by 70.6 per cent y-o-y, while Airtel revealed that data usage per customer increased to 4.8 GB per month (from 3.9 GB in the prior period).

Commenting on the growth of voice and data revenues, MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, said, “Voice revenue grew by 4.4 per cent, maintaining a steady recovery as more customers are reactivated, and gross connections continue to ramp up.”