In 2023, there were 14.5 million active Fintech subscribers on the MTN Nigeria Network, a 2.7% decrease from the previous year.
In its complete financial year report covering the period ending December 31, 2023, the telecom company revealed this. MTN claims that the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) introduction of the NIN Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement in Q4 is to blame for the dip.
It said, “While the development of the business has been slower than anticipated, we are pleased with the progress in building our MoMo PSB wallet base. The Number of registered MoMo wallets active users rose by over 3.3 million in the year to 5.3 million, indicating the underlying momentum in the ecosystem.”
It reported that its fintech revenue climbed by 2.4 percent, driven by growth in core fintech services (super-agent and wallet business, up 22.7 percent) and Xtratime (its airtime loan product, up 2 percent).
“We expanded our MoMo agent network by adding over 103,000 active agents, bringing the total number to approximately 327,000. Our agent network continued to play a pivotal role in our MoMo ecosystem, bringing the service closer to our customers. Our merchant business, which we started in March 2023 has reached over 324,000 by December 2023,” it added.
According to MTN's results, its total service income surged by 22.4 percent to N2.4 trillion year over year, while the number of mobile subscribers jumped by 5.3 percent to 79.7 million and the number of active data users increased by 12.7 percent to 44.6 million.
“We recorded pleasing growth of 39.8 percent (up 48.7 percent in Q4) in data revenue supported by a revamp of our data bundle offerings – particularly in Q4 – as well as the significant investment in our network coverage and capacity,” it stated.
The telco's 4G network currently serves 81.5 percent of the population, and smartphone penetration increased to 55.6 percent. These factors contributed to a 29.1% increase in data usage (GB per user) to 8.6GB. It was noted that there was a 44.9 percent rise in data traffic.
Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, gave an update on the company's fintech outlook. He stated, "We will continue to drive consumer education and awareness, leveraging our distribution network, which has enabled us to grow the agent and merchant ecosystem and increase the number of active wallets."
Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, gave an update on the company's fintech outlook. He stated, "We will continue to drive consumer education and awareness, leveraging our distribution network, which has enabled us to grow the agent and merchant ecosystem and increase the number of active wallets."
“The company is expanding its business service from basic to advanced, including cross-border remittances, to boost adoption and monetisation.”
