MTN Nigeria reported about ₦1.17 trillion in profit after tax for the nine months ending 30 September 2026, a 55.3% increase from ₦750.2 billion a year earlier. The figures come from unaudited company statements released on 30 October and covered by Punch on 31 October. They concern the first nine months, not the whole year.
Total revenue reached ₦4.61 trillion, rising 23.6%, while service revenue increased 23.7%. Those measures are related but not identical: total revenue includes income outside the service category. Earnings per share rose to ₦55.60. That accounting measure should not be read as an announcement that each shareholder will receive a new cash dividend of the same amount.
The operator reported 94.7 million subscribers and 57.2 million active data users. Data revenue grew 35.8%, and average monthly consumption per active data user reached 15.3GB over the nine-month period. MTN attributes growth to additional users and heavier usage. These company-wide figures do not show whether every household received faster connections or more affordable service.
Spending on network assets, excluding leases, rose 14.2% to ₦864.8 billion. The company says it is expanding coverage, capacity and home broadband. Such spending matters because growing demand must be carried by physical infrastructure, but an investment total alone cannot establish the quality of reception in a particular community. That requires separate local service evidence.
The picture was not uniformly positive. Overall financial-technology revenue fell 25.9%, although the core mobile-money business grew. MTN links the broader decline to the suspension of airtime and data credit services between April and June; those services subsequently resumed under a different partnership arrangement. Growth in one part of the business must therefore not be described as growth across the entire division.
For readers assessing the announcement, the key distinction is between a reported past result and management's expectations. These interim accounts are unaudited, and the year still has a final quarter to run. Stronger profit is established in the company's reporting; guaranteed future returns, universal service improvements and an automatic reduction in customer bills are not established by these figures.