MTN says its SA network has improved, but it takes currency and conflict hits

MTN, Africa's largest mobile phone operator by customers, says it increased revenue from fintech services by a fifth during the quarter ended September, as it scaled up investments in fintech and data services across its markets.

But despite a significant boost from data and improved network availability in SA, a weaker Nigerian naira and conflicts weighed on the group, which reported that its core profit fell almost 14% in its third quarter, while group service revenue fell almost 5%.

For the nine months, however, group service revenue is up 9% to R156 billion and core profit almost 3% to R70.3 billion. The group said it had increased network availability in SA to above 95%, while it was seeing signs that inflation is starting to subside.