In a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom about market size and profitability, MTN Ghana has delivered superior financial performance compared to its much larger Nigerian counterpart in the first half of 2025. The Ghanaian operation recorded $327 million in profit after tax, surpassing MTN Nigeria’s $271 million by $56 million—a development that challenges fundamental assumptions about scale advantages in African telecommunications.
The Numbers Tell a Different Story
MTN Ghana CEO Stephen Blewett’s LinkedIn disclosure revealed that the company achieved ₵3.6 billion ($327 million) in profit after tax for H1 2025, representing a 20% advantage over MTN Nigeria’s ₦414.9 billion ($271 million) in the same period. This performance is particularly remarkable given the dramatic difference in market size between the two operations.
The profitability gap becomes even more striking when considering subscriber bases. MTN Ghana’s 30.2 million subscribers generated significantly higher value per user compared to MTN Nigeria’s 84.7 million customers—nearly three times the subscriber count but lower absolute profits.
Currency Dynamics and Economic Stability
The profit differential reflects broader macroeconomic trends affecting West Africa’s two largest economies. While Ghana has demonstrated signs of recovery with cedi stability, moderating inflation, and tech-friendly policy reforms, Nigeria continues grappling with significant economic challenges.
The naira’s persistent devaluation has severely impacted corporate earnings when converted to USD, creating a substantial headwind for MTN Nigeria’s reported profitability. This currency effect alone explains much of Ghana’s ability to leapfrog its regional neighbor in dollar-denominated profits, highlighting how exchange rate stability can translate directly into superior financial performance.
Operational Excellence vs. Scale
MTN Ghana’s success stems from a combination of operational efficiency and strategic focus on high-growth digital services. The company’s EBITDA margin of 58.4% significantly outperformed MTN Nigeria’s 50.6%, demonstrating superior cost management and revenue optimization.
Service revenue surged 31% to ₵8.1 billion, driven primarily by explosive growth in digital services. Data revenue increased 30.5% while fintech services skyrocketed 48.2%, reflecting Ghana’s rapid digital transformation and the company’s ability to capitalize on emerging opportunities.
Digital Transformation as Competitive Advantage
Ghana’s expanding fintech ecosystem has become a critical differentiator for MTN’s operations in the country. Mobile money (MoMo) transactions experienced substantial growth, contributing to both revenue expansion and operational cost reduction. This digital-first approach has enabled MTN Ghana to maintain lean operations while capturing increasing value from each customer interaction.
The company’s strategic focus on fintech and digital services aligns perfectly with Ghana’s evolving regulatory environment and consumer preferences. Tech-friendly reforms have created conditions for rapid adoption of digital financial services, positioning MTN Ghana to benefit from structural economic shifts.
Nigeria’s Recovery from Crisis
MTN Nigeria’s current performance must be viewed against the backdrop of its dramatic recovery from severe losses in the previous year. The operation posted a ₦519.1 billion loss in H1 2024, primarily due to ₦887 billion in foreign exchange losses that devastated the company’s financial position.
While service revenue grew an impressive 32.6% year-on-year in H1 2025, much of this growth was offset by inflationary cost pressures and continued currency devaluation. The combination of operational improvements and persistent macroeconomic headwinds has limited the translation of revenue growth into proportional profit expansion.
Challenging the Scale Paradigm
These results fundamentally challenge traditional assumptions about the relationship between market size and profitability in African telecommunications. MTN Ghana’s superior performance suggests that structural efficiency, digital revenue focus, and economic policy stability may be more important than raw subscriber numbers.
The notion that bigger markets automatically translate to better financial outcomes appears increasingly questionable in Africa’s current economic environment. Instead, operational excellence, strategic positioning, and macroeconomic stability seem to drive superior returns.
Strategic Implications for MTN Group
For MTN Group, which operates across 19 African markets, these results may prompt significant strategic reconsideration. The performance differential between Ghana and Nigeria suggests that resource allocation strategies based primarily on market size may need fundamental revision.
Smaller but stable markets like Ghana could emerge as more reliable profit engines than larger, volatile counterparts. This shift might influence investment priorities, management attention, and investor communication strategies across the group’s portfolio.
Broader Regional Competitiveness
The Ghana-Nigeria performance gap reflects deeper shifts in regional telecommunications competitiveness across West Africa. As African economies continue diverging in monetary policy effectiveness, regulatory frameworks, and investment attractiveness, traditional market hierarchies may face disruption.
Ghana’s current economic trajectory, characterized by policy stability and digital-first reforms, contrasts sharply with Nigeria’s ongoing macroeconomic challenges. These divergent paths are creating new competitive dynamics that favor operational excellence over raw scale.
Investment and Policy Lessons
The MTN comparison offers important lessons for investors and policymakers across Africa. Countries that prioritize currency stability, digital infrastructure, and business-friendly regulatory frameworks may attract disproportionate investment returns relative to their market size.
For telecommunications operators, the results suggest that focus on digital services, operational efficiency, and market-appropriate strategies may deliver superior returns compared to pure scale plays in challenging economic environments.
Future Outlook
As economic conditions continue evolving across West Africa, the MTN Ghana-Nigeria dynamic will serve as an important barometer for regional competitiveness. Ghana’s current advantage reflects specific policy choices and economic management decisions that other African markets might seek to emulate.
The sustainability of Ghana’s outperformance will depend on continued economic stability, digital transformation momentum, and the company’s ability to maintain operational excellence as it scales. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s recovery trajectory will largely determine whether current results represent a temporary divergence or a more fundamental shift in regional telecommunications dynamics.
For MTN Group and other pan-African operators, these results underscore the importance of market-specific strategies that prioritize stability and efficiency alongside growth ambitions. The traditional focus on subscriber acquisition may need to evolve toward more nuanced approaches that emphasize value creation and operational excellence.
