MTN Rwanda Plc’s service revenue increased by 13.6 per cent year on year to Rwf68.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 ended December 30, driven by growth in data and mobile money revenue. Data revenue increased by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to nearly Rwf12 billion, while mobile money revenue grew 32.7 per cent to Rwf 32.7 billion in the same period, the company’s financial statements show. “Despite a challenging operating backdrop, we delivered resilient results with encouraging trends in some of our key financial metrics in H2, particularly Q4,” Mapula Bodibe, MTN Rwanda's Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement. 2024 in review MTN recorded a modest increase in service revenue in 2024, growing by 4.6 per cent to Rwf 257.7 billion. However, the telco registered a loss after tax of Rwf5.5 billion in the same period, a 194.1 per cent decline from the profit recorded in the previous year. The financial performance was attributed to low revenue growth and high operating costs. The slow growth has been the case throughout the 2024 quarterly financial results. The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), a metric for earnings from core operations, decreased by 19.8 per cent to Rwf92.9 billion. EBITDA margin, which reflects profitability from core operations as a percentage of revenue, declined by 10.9 percentage points to 35.5 percent, meaning that profit from core operations shrunk by 10.9 percent for every dollar of revenue. MTN Rwanda’s capital expenditure – expenses incurred in acquiring or improving physical assets – decreased by 15.3 per cent to Rwf70.5 billion and to Rwf36.9 billion excluding leases. No dividends for 2024 Consequently, the telco’s board of directors decided to not declare a dividend for the year to enable the business to recover profitability and re-establish a healthy financial profile. Earnings per share (EPS) were revised downward to Rwf4.1 from Rwf4.4 per share. ALSO READ: MTN blames half-year earnings loss on zero rating rules Bodibe said that while macroeconomic conditions in the country showed signs of overall improvement in the year, the regulatory and competitive environment had a notable impact on the company’s financial performance. In the regulatory environment, she noted, “Our business was affected by the continued zero-rating of local MTR and rising One Network Area (ONA) interconnect charges attributed to permanent roamers in Uganda and South Sudan.” The change of rules in local mobile termination rates (MTR) was introduced last year by RURA, which dictated that telecommunication companies would not get paid for calls received on their network from other networks in Rwanda for one year. Bodibe added that there has been progress in engagements with the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) to find constructive solutions to address the matters in question. The engagements point towards a re-introduction of MTRs for the industry, according to MTN's statement. Looking at the financial results, the telco recorded a 4.6 per cent increase in service revenue to Rwf257.7 billion, which improved in the second half of the year, particularly in the fourth quarter where it raised by 13.6 per cent. Specifically, data revenue increased by 0.2 per cent to Rwf45.2 billion despite an 8 per cent decrease in active data subscribers. Voice revenue declined by 17.8 per cent to Rwf68.7 billion during the period under review. MTN's fintech subsidiary, Mobile Money Rwanda Limited (MMRL), also saw a growth revenue of Rwf116.6 billion, an increase of 30.3 per cent compared to the previous year. The volume and value of MoMo transactions grew by 18.5 percent to 1.9 billion, and 47.1 percent to Rwf21 trillion, respectively. MTN Rwanda’s total subscribers increased by 5.1 percent year-on-year to 7.6 million. Bodibe highlighted that the firm will continue focusing on initiatives to accelerate commercial growth and drive operational resilience. We are encouraged by the recent trends in our business, particularly the Q4 momentum in topline growth and profitability, she noted. We expect this positive momentum to be supported by continued strong economic growth and benign inflation conditions.”
