Leading telecommunications service provider, MTN Ghana recorded a 39 percent year-on-year growth in net profit for 2023, according to the company’s audited accounts posted on the Ghana Stock Exchange website.
The telecommunication service company declared a net profit of 3.9 billion Ghana cedis from 2.8 billion cedis year-on-year profit for the previous year.
MTN said its service revenue grew by 34.6 percent to 13.3 billion cedis, driven by voice, data, and Mobile Money (MoMo), while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased 40.2 percent to 7.8 billion cedis.
The company saw a 6.3 percent dip in total mobile subscribers to 26.8 million due to the national SIM re-registration exercise, while active data subscribers increased 14.0 percent to 15.4 million, and active MoMo users surged 20.1 percent to 15.2 million.
During the year under review, MTN invested 4.1 billion in capital expenditure to expand network coverage and enhance service quality, paying 5.9 billion in direct and indirect taxes.
The company also paid 400 million cedis in fees, levies, and other payments to governmental agencies.
The combination of the tax component and the other fees and charges to government agencies represented 47.1 percent of the company’s total revenue for the 2023 financial year.
Going forward, MTN reiterated its commitment to the Ambition 2025 strategy, focusing on developing its platforms to unlock further value for stakeholders, continuously improving its network and services to deliver an exceptional customer experience and maintaining its medium-term growth guidance of high-twenties (in percentage terms) for service revenue.
Despite the anticipated challenges of the macroeconomic environment, MTN Ghana said it remains optimistic about the future.
In a separate press release on the financial performance, the telecommunication service provider said in fulfilment of the vision to create a better future for all Ghanaians, the MTN Ghana Foundation invested 30.3 million cedis in 2023 towards improving healthcare, education, and supporting economic growth.
Outgoing Chief Executive Officer (CEO)Selorm Adadevoh said, “We are on track to complete the construction of a 60-bed maternity and neonatal centre for the Keta Municipal Hospital and a STEM robotics lab for the Mamfe Girls’ School.”
Adadevoh said the projects were at the final stage of equipment installation in preparation to hand them over to the beneficiaries for use.
“We also awarded 120 new scholarships, bringing the total number of students benefiting from the MTN scholarship programme at various educational institutions to 566,” the outgoing CEO stated.