MTN Ghana service revenue increases to GH₵7.1billion cedi, takes hit from E-Levy
Revenue from MTN's Mobile Money person-to-person (P2P) transactions declined by 13.3 per cent post implmentation of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) in May 2022.
The government has imposed a 1.5 per cent levy on the value of all electronic transfers, including banks, specialised deposit-taking institutions, payment service providers and electronic money issuers, as a means to earn revenue from digital services. The levy is in addition to other applicable charges.
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MTN Ghana in its performance report for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2022, said revenue from P2P transactions declined by 13.3% year-on-year in the three quarters to end September, with the contribution of MoMo to service revenue falling to 19.1% from 22.8 per cent previously.
The firm also took a decision to reduce P2P transaction fees by 25% to cushion the effect on its customers.
Despite the challenges, active MoMo users increased by 16.3% to 12.4 million, the firm said, and overall, MTN Ghana's service revenue grew by 27.9% to GH₵7.1 billion.
Data revenue saw the biggest year-on-year jump at 43.7% to GH₵2.8 billion, with data usage jumping by just over half, and the group growing its data subscribers by just over a fifth. Voice revenue increased by 23.4% to GH₵2.4 billion.
"MoMo revenue increased by 7.5% YoY to GHS1.4 billion. A slower growth was observed post implementation of the e-levy from May 2022 and our decision to reduce P2P transaction fees by 25% to cushion the impact on our customers," the report said.
"Revenue from P2P transactions declined by 13.3% YoY during the period. Overall, there was a 16.3% YoY increase in the number of active MoMo users, 15.9% YoY growth in cash-out services as well as a 17.7% increase in advanced service offerings such as microloans and other general payment services.
"The contribution of Mobile Money to service revenue subsequently decreased from 22.8% to 19.1% YoY. We recorded strong growth in total MoMo transaction volume (+57.0% QoQ) and value (+53.4% QoQ) during the period, driven by higher levels of P2P activity over the prior quarter and strong cash-out transactional activity".
MTN said it had successfully registered 15.2 million subscribers using the Ghana National ID at the end of September 2022, with approximately 5.6 million yet to complete their registration.
MTN Ghana said it spent GH₵1.4 billion during the period to improve the quality of its service and expand its network, and it rolled out 339 2G; 339 3G; 1 081 4G sites; as well as modernised 805 others. This supported the increase in its 4G coverage to 99.3 per cent of the population.