MTN Nigeria's revenue growth resumed in the third quarter despite fintech segment challenges

Airtel Africa reported an approximate 16 percent increase in net profit, reaching $254 million in reporting currency for the second quarter ending September 30, 2026. In the same period last year, the company recorded a profit after tax of $219 million.

The company's revenue increased by 26 percent, amounting to $1,970 million compared to $1,567 million in the quarter of September 2025. Furthermore, when considering revenue in constant currency, the growth was 20.6 percent.

The total customer base expanded by 11.6 percent, reaching 193.9 million people. Among them, data users grew by 15 percent to 89.9 million, and mobile money customers increased by 22.4 percent, reaching 60.9 million.

The company noted that the growth in smartphone penetration to 51.6 percent continues to stimulate demand for data services. This led to an increase in the average data usage per customer to 13.3 GB, compared to 10.1 GB in the previous period.

Airtel Africa stated that the increase in data consumption per customer, along with continuous improvement in customer experience, contributed to a 10.7 percent growth in data ARPU in constant currency, demonstrating the company's ability to effectively monetize growing data demand.

MTN South Africa, in collaboration with Huawei, successfully conducted a proof of concept demonstration and achieved the first commercial validation in the industry of enhanced microwave spectrum reuse capability. This feature is based on Huawei's CCIC (Co-Channel Interference Cancellation) microwave solution and is designed to increase capacity by more efficiently utilizing existing licensed spectrum.

The new capability allows for more efficient use of microwave spectrum, helping MTN build capacity in areas where additional spectrum is either limited or difficult to obtain. The demonstrated solution showed a significant improvement in spectrum utilization efficiency while maintaining network performance, which contributes to rapid capacity growth and accelerated deployment of 5G services.

MTN South Africa is one of the leading providers of mobile and digital services in the country, and MTN Group is the largest mobile operator on the African continent. Due to the expansion of commercial 5G services, MTN South Africa faces growing demand for high-capacity microwave backhaul networks. This has created an urgent need to maximize the use of licensed spectrum while controlling associated costs.

Obtaining additional spectrum is traditionally expensive and often requires lengthy regulatory procedures. Furthermore, strong interference in low-frequency bands can significantly degrade the quality of backhaul service. At major hub sites, further network expansion is often limited by insufficient spectrum availability and the complexity of obtaining new spectrum licenses.

To solve these problems, MTN South Africa implemented the Huawei CCIC solution. This technology continuously analyzes co-channel interference in real-time and generates compensating signals to suppress it. By overcoming the limitations of physical isolation in traditional microwave systems, this solution enables more efficient reuse of existing microwave spectrum, supporting capacity expansion where spectrum is constrained. In a deployed configuration, it demonstrated a significant increase in spectrum reuse efficiency.

This achievement allows operators to use existing frequencies for both capacity growth and targeted expansion, optimizing spectral resources and reducing operational costs.

Spectrum Scarcity

Rodni Reddy, Senior Transmission Planning Manager, Tivashan Naidu, Senior Transmission Specialist, and Rim Al Saba, Senior Transmission Specialist at MTN South Africa stated that 'the CCIC solution directly addresses spectrum scarcity issues. It enhances spectral efficiency and optimal spectrum utilization during capacity expansion, eliminating spectrum limitations that have historically constrained hub site growth. This allows us to maximize our existing spectrum assets while simultaneously improving operational efficiency and reducing spectrum-related costs.'

Nkosinathi Nzima, General Manager of Transport and OSS (Operations Support Systems), noted: 'This phase demonstrates how targeted innovations can help us effectively expand capacity in constrained areas, increase the value of licensed spectrum assets, and create a scalable, future-ready transmission network. This deployment supports our broader strategic goal of expanding network capacity while maintaining investment discipline and operational efficiency.'

Alex Singh, Vice President of Key Account Management for MTN Group at Huawei, emphasized: 'Huawei is committed to continuous innovation in microwave transmission technologies. The CCIC solution significantly improves spectral efficiency, enhances network performance, and optimizes the total cost of ownership for operators. By enabling higher capacity and more efficient microwave backhaul networks, this solution helps accelerate the large-scale deployment of 5G services.'

This implementation shows the potential of CCIC technology in helping operators maximize the value of existing spectrum assets, expand network capacity more efficiently, and support the growing demand for 5G connectivity.

About Huawei

Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure and intelligent devices. With 213,000 employees working in over 170 countries, the company serves more than three billion people worldwide.

Huawei strives to enable digitalization for every person, home, and organization towards a fully connected, intelligent world. In 2025, Huawei achieved revenue of C¥880.9 billion, reinvesting 21.8% (C¥192.3 billion) in Research and Development (R&D), with approximately 53.7% of its employees working in R&D. As a private company wholly owned by its employees, Huawei focuses on customer-centric innovation and open collaboration to create long-term value and drive technological breakthroughs globally.