Between January and September 2022, MTN and Airtel generated N1.92 trillion in revenue from calls and data.
This is according to data from MTN Nigeria Communications Plc’s and Airtel Africa’s Nigeria subsidiary’s financial results.
This represents an 18.27 percent increase over the N1.62 trillion earned by telcos on calls and data in the same period in 2021.
MTN Nigeria customers spent N753.78 billion and N549.66 billion on calls and data, respectively, while Airtel Nigeria customers spent N342.71 billion ($780 million) and N274.61 billion ($625 million) on calls and data, respectively.
MTN stated in its report that inflation, supply chain uncertainty, and currency scarcity were putting financial pressure on consumers and businesses.
“Our operating environment remained challenging in the first nine months of 2022,” it said. The ongoing global macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility has pushed up energy, food, and general inflation, with Nigeria’s annual inflation rate reaching a 17-year high of 20.8 percent in September 2022.
“The availability of foreign currency required for capital expenditure exacerbated supply chain uncertainties.” These headwinds continue to place significant financial strain on consumers and businesses.”
According to MTN’s results, data traffic increased by 70.6 percent year on year, while Airtel revealed that data usage per customer increased to 4.8 GB per month (from 3.9 GB in the prior period).
MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer Karl Toriola commented on the growth of voice and data revenues, saying, “Voice revenue grew by 4.4%, maintaining a steady recovery as more customers are reactivated and gross connections continue to ramp up.”
