MTN subscribers spend N46.41bn on SMS

MTN Nigeria raked in N46.41 billion from Nigerians in

SMS revenue in 2021, representing 2.81% of the total revenue, according to the company’s earnings press release.

This means that all 68.5 million MTN Nigeria subscribers spent approximately N672 each on average on SMS during the year.

The revenue line recorded over 200% growth from N12.33 billion in the 2020 FY earnings period. This significant growth can be attributed to the adjustment of VAT on SMS charges from 5% to 7.5%, despite the fact that majority of subscribers use other messaging applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp and the likes.

It can also be attributed to the increase in mobile subscribers during the period, despite the regulations restricting the sale and registration of new SIM cards for the most part of the year.

“Operationally, our mobile subscriber base declined by 10.6% and was impacted by the regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations. However, we are pleased to have returned to positive growth in Q4 2021, adding approximately 1 million subscribers as we continued to ramp up the alignment of our SIM registration and activation centres with the regulations,” the CEO of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola commented.

The SMS sub-segment generated the fourth-highest revenue for the period for the company according to the financial records.

According to the company’s earnings release, asides from the growth in SMS revenue, the company also recorded growth in Voice, Data, and Interconnect and roaming data which increased by 6.96%, 55.32% and 26.74%, respectively.