Telecommunications company MTN Nigeria has reported a significant 39.4% decrease in its fintech customer base in H1 2023, bringing the total number of users down to 7 million by the end of June.
In the company’s H1 2023 report, out of its 7 million fintech customers, 3.1 million are MoMo wallet users, which constitutes MTN’s overall fintech customers.
Meanwhile, despite the decline in MTN’s fintech customers, the company recorded a 7.8% growth in fintech revenue, reaching N43.6 billion for the first six months of the year, compared to N40.4 billion during the same period in the previous year.
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Speaking on the cause of MTN’s decline of customers in its fintech business, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Karl Toriola attributed it to the effects of cash shortages on over-the-counter (OTC) transitions during the first quarter (Q1) of 2023. As a result, the active user base experienced a year-on-year, (YoY) decline.
Nevertheless, Mr. Toriola emphasized that MTN remains committed to the growth of its fintech business, viewing it as a critical priority for the company’s growth strategy and aligned with its Ambition 2025 strategy.
MTN plans to enhance its fintech campaigns to increase awareness among users. During H1, the company implemented several measures to bolster its fintech ecosystem, including reopening the NIBSS interface for inbound and outbound transfers, strengthening control systems, and introducing the basic version of its MoMo app.
These efforts yielded momentum in the ecosystem, with fintech transaction volume showing an impressive YoY increase of 67.1%. Mr. Toriola disclosed that MTN now boasts 227,000 MoMo agents, extending their services closer to customers across Nigeria, and has onboarded 36,000 merchants into their ecosystem.
MTN experienced significant growth in its digital revenue during the same period, registering a remarkable 49.9% increase. This growth was fueled by revenue from rich media services and content VAS. The company attributed this progress to the adoption of digital products and the expansion of the active user base, which surged by 56.6% to 14 million.
Additionally, MTN’s instant messaging platform, Ayoba, an all-in-one app that allows users to chat, call, read, play, and listen to music, continued to gain traction with the addition of 2 million users, bringing the monthly active users to 7.2 million monthly active users in H1 2023.
Furthermore, the company achieved a 48.5% rise in service revenue from the enterprise business, driven by mobile and fixed connectivity services and the successful onboarding of new customers across all segments.
Notably, MTN remains committed to its 2025 Ambition strategy, which is anchored on building the largest and most valuable platform business with a clear focus on Africa.
This is underpinned by its five growth platforms which include, MoMo (FinTech Solutions), Ayoba (Digital Solutions), Enterprise Services, Network (Network as a Service), and Chenosis (API MarketPlace).