Telecom giant, MTN Ghana recorded a marginal year-on-year growth in profit for the first quarter of 2023 despite a difficult economic environment.

Profit jumped by 5.35% to ¢745.40 million in quarter one, 2023, from ¢707.49 million during the same period last year.

According to its Audited Financial Statement for the first quarter of 2023, MTN Ghana delivered a strong performance in the first quarter of 2023, with a 23.2% year-on-year increase in overall service revenue, supported by growth in voice, data and Mobile Money (MoMo).

It also continued to grow its subscriber base with improved service offerings and network connectivity.

Growth in our customer base (+1.4% year-on-year) coupled with customer value management supported a 12.9% year-on-year growth in voice revenue to ¢887 million.

Voice revenue declines

Voice revenue contribution to total service revenue declined from 33.4% to 30.7% in line with its revenue diversification strategy.

Data revenue up 30%

Demand for data services remained strong with a 51.5% year-on-year increase in traffic and an 8.4% year-on-year growth in active users in the period. This supported a 30.3% year-on-year increase in data revenue to ¢1.1 billion.

The contribution of data revenue to total service revenue increased from 37.1% to 39.3%  year-on-year. MoMo revenue continued its recovery from the implementation of the e-levy last year with a 24.8% year-on-year increase to ¢643 million.

This was underpinned by growth in cash-out revenue (+75.2% year-on-year).

Inflation, cedi depreciation impacts on cost

MTN Ghana also stated in the report that inflationary pressures which continued from prior year led to a growth in total costs of 33.5% year-on-year.

Finance income increased by 102.0% year-on-year to ¢62 million from gains made from the investment of surplus cash in call and fixed-term deposits.

On finance costs, it said the impact of high interest rates and cedi depreciation, resulted in a 78.8% year-on-year increase to ¢267 million.

Consequently, net finance cost for the period increased by 72.7% year-on-year.

Outlook
MTN Ghana said the macroeconomic outlook for the remainder of 2023 remains uncertain with elevated inflationary pressures, currency devaluation risks, sovereign debt sustainability risks and volatility in fuel prices.

The World Bank in its latest forecast for Ghana, indicated an exit inflation of 29.4%, with potential
adverse impact on consumer spend and the cost of doing business.

MTN Ghana said it will continue to explore and deploy prudent cost management strategies to mitigate
the impact. These include renegotiation of contract terms, placing a hold on non-critical expenditure,
fast tracking the use of digital channels and the implementation of environmentally friendly cost effective energy / power solutions among others.