MTN Group president and CEO Ralph Mupita is confident that Africa’s largest telecommunications provider can continue to operate in positive territory, after turnarounds in West Africa and better economic prospects helped the company report its best service revenue growth since 2008.
“We don’t panic at MTN. We are confident about our markets,” said Mupita in the latest episode of the telecommunications company’s vodcast The Y’ello Chair (watch it below).
“From time to time there may be challenges, but you know, we are driven by the belief that there are structural growth opportunities in our markets that are multi-decade, both for digital and financial inclusion.”
According to Mupita, MTN’s strong performance can be attributed to solid underlying commercial momentum and a more stabilised macroeconomic environment, including easing inflation and stabilised currencies in key markets like Nigeria and Ghana.
The group reported a profit after tax of R27.4bn for the financial year ending 31 December 2025, after a loss of R10.9bn a year ago.
Ambition 2030
Following the completion of MTN’s Ambition 2025 strategy, the group’s board has outlined “Ambition 2030”, which according to Mupita centres on “delivering digital solutions for Africa’s progress”.
The company has since sharpened its strategic focus around a “One MTN, three platforms” model:
- Connectivity: Scaling data access, capturing the home internet market, using technologies like fixed wireless and fibre-to-the-home, and expanding enterprise services.
- Fintech: Mupita explained the company would “continue to expand the financial ecosystem and drive user growth through more advanced, app-based services”.
- Digital infrastructure: Targeting Pan-African fibre networks via Bayobab, data centres — likely through partnerships — and unlocking the value of mobile towers.
“These platforms need to be underpinned by a leading customer experience, leveraging AI for growth and shared value,” Mupita said.
IHS Towers deal
Mupita noted that the traditional tower company model had become less attractive due to market consolidation, which has resulted in fewer operators per country, as well as rising inflation and energy challenges.
To adapt, MTN made an all-cash offer of $2.2bn (about R36bn) to acquire the remaining 75% of shares it doesn’t already own in Africa’s largest cellphone tower operator, IHS Towers.
This marks a major shift in MTN’s position around infrastructure.
The group says the deal allows it to better control costs and strategically own its digital infrastructure across five key markets, marking a shift towards greater co-investment and ownership in the infrastructure space.
Exiting the Middle East
MTN is executing its multi-year plan to exit the Middle East to focus purely on Africa. They have already fully exited Afghanistan and Yemen.
Operating in Iran remains complex due to strict US and EU sanctions compliance.
Mupita expressed frustration that the Iranian operation, where MTN is a 49% minority shareholder, recently changed its CEO without consulting his firm.
In response, MTN has pulled its expat staff and temporarily stepped back from board deliberations.
“We’ve always been clear, we don’t control the operation, we don’t run it and so forth, but the act of removing the CEO without telling us. [That] was a step a little bit too far for us, we were a bit disappointed by that,” Mupita said.
With no path to capital repatriation and a governance relationship that has soured, MTN would prefer to exit — but the sanctions that make the business unworkable also make a clean exit nearly impossible.
Simply walking away is not a legally viable option, Mupita noted, because MTN would technically remain the owner of the shares regardless.
Mupita point to Syria as a potential template for what an exit could look like.
After initially abandoning the Syrian operation due to hostile actions by the Bashar al-Assad regime, MTN is finalising a formal settlement agreement to officially exit, made possible by the recent lifting of sanctions.
Reflections on Mobile World Congress
Mupita recently attended Mobile World Congress, the largest annual telecoms conference, hosted by the industry body GSMA.
At such major events, the MTN head — who serves as deputy chair of the GSMA — prioritises engaging with regulators, partners, and stakeholders rather than just testing new gadgets.
Proof of such activity can be seen by the meeting between Mupita and Abdulsalam Haykal, Syria’s minister of communications & information technology, which led to the agreed plans for exiting the Middle Eastern state.
Mupita highlighted a growing concern about the potential bifurcation of 6G and AI standards between the US and China. He again stressed that Africa must actively participate in these global tech developments to avoid being left behind as a “digital underclass”.
This article was sponsored by MTN.
