{"id":243911,"date":"2025-11-04T19:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T19:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/243911\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T19:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T19:55:07","slug":"mtns-fintech-revenue-is-growing-thanks-to-airtime-lending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/243911\/","title":{"rendered":"MTN\u2019s fintech revenue is growing thanks to airtime lending"},"content":{"rendered":"

MTN Nigeria\u2019s fintech arm made \u20a6131.62 billion<\/a> ($91.64 million) in the first nine months of 2025, but mostly on the back of airtime lending (Xtratime). The why is understandable. MTN has a subscriber base of 89.64 million<\/a>, and many depend on borrowed airtime for connectivity.<\/p>\n

Core fintech revenue (excluding Xtratime) stood at \u20a66.8 billion ($4.73 million), a 142.86% jump from \u20a62.8 billion ($1.95 million) in the previous year, driven by an increase in interest income and usage of advanced services, a slide presentation during MTN\u2019s investors call on October 31, 2025, revealed.<\/p>\n

The telco knows it can\u2019t rely on airtime lending forever, especially as the country\u2019s two mobile money giants, OPay and PalmPay, continue to dominate mobile payments. To compete, MTN is betting on advanced services, value-chain digitisation, and high-value customers to shift from quick wins to long-term fintech growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still see substantial opportunities for growth and diversification,\u201d Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria, said on the call. \u201cWith disciplined execution, we are accelerating advanced services, expanding our ecosystem, and deepening customer engagement.<\/p>\n

The race to catch up<\/p>\n

Mobile money is one of Nigeria\u2019s fastest-growing financial services segments. In Q1 2025, transactions reached \u20a620.71 trillion ($14.42 billion), according to the \u00a0Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System<\/a> (NIBSS).<\/p>\n

This sector is dominated by OPay, which reported 10 million<\/a> daily active users and 100 million daily transactions in 2024, and PalmPay, which processes 15 million<\/a> daily.<\/p>\n

Despite their larger subscriber bases, telco-backed payment service banks\u2014the Central Bank of Nigeria\u2019s mobile money solution for telcos\u2014MTN\u2019s MoMo, Airtel\u2019s SmartCash, 9mobile\u2019s 9PSB, Globacom\u2019s Money Master, and Hope PSB from Unified Payments have struggled to scale.<\/p>\n

On Airtel Africa\u2019s fiscal Q1 2026 \u00a0earnings call<\/a> in July 2025, CEO Sunil Taldar attributed this to the maturity of Nigeria\u2019s fintech sector, saying the market is well-developed \u201ccompared to many other markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shifting models<\/p>\n

To adapt to this, telcos are changing their fintech operating models. Airtel<\/a> is leaning on its agent networks and new digital capabilities, betting that its customer base will help it capture a share of Nigeria\u2019s mobile money market.<\/p>\n

MTN<\/a> is focusing on what it terms \u2018advanced services\u2019 and high-value customers, while expanding its physical presence. Its active agent network grew by 73.6% and merchant network by 42.6% between December 2024 and September 2025, part of what it calls a \u201cdeliberate focus on optimising distribution quality and building a more sustainable fintech ecosystem for long-term growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Active MoMo wallets are up 1.6% to 2.9 million, and customer deposits jumped 146.43% year-on-year to \u20a66.9 billion ($4.80 million).<\/p>\n

Inside MTN\u2019s fintech playbook<\/p>\n

According to Phrase Lubega, CEO of MoMo PSB, MTN is digitising value chains and solving real-world payment challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see continuous usage of customers coming to make payments through those value chains, and that has helped drive the momentum that we expect,\u201d he said on MTN\u2019s investors call.<\/p>\n

On the agent side, the company is leveraging already existing networks rather than chasing new numbers.<\/p>\n

On the distribution side, the company is leveraging existing agent networks to drive growth. \u201cThis has enabled us to actually drive some level of growth without necessarily going so aggressively on distribution acquisition,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

The company is banking on advanced services to drive higher-value and repeat transactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we onboard or deliver additional advanced services, more high-value customers actually come in to engage and interact with those services, thereby driving the additional momentum and increasing the flow that we are seeing,\u201d Lubega added.<\/p>\n

The company believes that its strategy calibration is beginning to pay off.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fintech strategy is focused on unlocking significant long-term value and advancing financial inclusion, and on the quality of our wallets and customers that we acquire,\u201d Karl Toriola said on the call. \u201cWe are focused on building a scalable, sustainable fintech platform that delivers attractive returns and supports our broader growth ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long road ahead<\/p>\n

When the CBN introduced Payment Service Banks<\/a> (PSBs) licences in 2018, it expected telcos to replicate M-Pesa\u2019s success in Kenya. But that hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n

Airtel Nigeria\u2019s<\/a> mobile money business processed only $1.5 billion between April and September 2025, just 1.7% of Airtel Africa\u2019s $88.8 billion in total mobile money transactions. Revenue from Nigeria contributed a mere $4 million, or 0.64%, of Airtel Africa\u2019s $623 million fintech earnings, despite the country\u2019s size.<\/p>\n

Yet, Airtel\u2019s Taldar believes PSBs will eventually get their day in the sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cNigeria is taking its time, but given the strength of this market, the size of the opportunity in this market, it is only a matter of time,\u201d he said on the company\u2019s earnings call in July 2025.<\/p>\n

GSMA<\/a>, the global industry body for telcos, shares that view, arguing in this report<\/a> that telcos\u2019 scale, technology, and capital base will eventually help them catch up.<\/p>\n

Note: exchange rate used: \u20a61,436.34\/$<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MTN Nigeria\u2019s fintech arm made \u20a6131.62 billion ($91.64 million) in the first nine months of 2025, but mostly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2306,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-243911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}