There was a time when MTN Uganda’s performance could be summed up in three words: subscribers, airtime, and coverage. As recently as 2020, as this column observed, the real story was hidden beneath the surface of the mobile-money revolution.
The country’s
mobile-money platforms were already moving sums equivalent to half the national
GDP—“a silent banking system that doesn’t sleep” even as telecoms continued to
measure success by call minutes. MTN was then a strong, cash-generating voice
business standing at the edge of a digital frontier it was yet to fully claim.
Fast forward to
2025 and the transformation is ticking along impressively.
The company’s third-quarter performance
underlines the scale of that metamorphosis. Topline revenue rose 15 percent to sh 2.2 trillion, powered by double-digit growth in both data and fintech. Data revenue jumped 22 percent, while fintech climbed 18.6 percent, together contributing almost half of total income.
Voice, once the
company’s dominant pillar, grew just 4 percent. Profit after tax surged 23 percent to sh 295 billion. The
board rewarded shareholders with an interim
dividend of sh 10.5 per share, the largest since the company listed in
2021—a clear statement that the new digital engines are not only humming but
also highly cash-generative.
MTN’s current
business model has little in common with the one described in this column’s
early reflections on Uganda’s telecom boom.
The company has moved from selling airtime to
selling access—to data, to transactions, to platforms. It has poured more than sh 350 billion this year into network
upgrades, adding 125 new sites and strengthening its 4G footprint, building
what one might call the “digital highways” of Uganda. Each new tower now
carries more data than voice, and every new smartphone becomes a tollgate
through which MTN collects its share of the digital economy.
Fintech, through
MTN MoMo, has evolved into the company’s heartbeat. With more than ten million
active users, MoMo has become a daily necessity for Ugandans—paying merchants,
sending remittances, settling bills, and increasingly, saving and borrowing. It
is not merely a payment platform but an informal financial system, quietly
eroding the boundaries between telecommunications and banking. In 2017 we wrote, “mobile money is the real central
bank of the people.” That observation feels prophetic now.
Across the
border, Safaricom’s half-year results released on the same day as MTN released
their Q3 results, offer a crystal ball into MTN’s possible future.
The Kenyan operator’s M-Pesa mobile money platform accounts for 43 percent of service revenue
, and data for another double-digit slice. Voice is no longer king there—it is an afterthought. MTN Uganda is following the same arc, though its story is still in the rising chapters. Where Safaricom processes nearly a billion transactions a month, MTN’s volumes are in the hundreds of millions. The gap is the opportunity, and the dividend signals confidence that management intends to close it.
The data
narrative mirrors the fintech journey. Safaricom’s average user consumes
roughly twice as much data as Uganda’s, but the trend lines point upward. MTN’s
capital spending is laying the groundwork for that growth, ensuring capacity
before the demand wave crests. As smartphones become cheaper and apps
infiltrate every aspect of life—from learning to trading—Uganda’s data appetite
will grow. The paradox is familiar: prices may fall, but usage will more than
compensate, pushing revenues and margins higher.
What
distinguishes MTN’s story is not just that it has pivoted successfully; it has
done so while preserving profitability and a disciplined dividend culture. The sh 10.5 per-share payout, up 61
percent from last year, is a declaration that this transformation is not a
gamble but a sustainable model. The company’s strong cash flows, even amid
inflation and currency headwinds, have allowed it to fund expansion and still
deliver attractive returns—a balance few Ugandan listed firms manage.
Looking ahead,
MTN’s trajectory will hinge on execution. Safaricom’s example shows that the
next phase lies in opening up ecosystems—through APIs, partnerships with banks
and fintechs, and seamless integration into everyday business. MTN has the
reach, the trust, and the infrastructure. What remains is to build the bridges
that turn scale into depth.
For investors, the dividend is a reward; for the economy, it is a signpost. The digital dividend has arrived—and this time, everyone gets a share.
