MTN Uganda has increased its interim dividend by 72.5% after reporting a 37.7% rise in profit after tax (PAT) to a record Ush367.49 billion for the six months ended June 2026.
The increase in net profit came despite a 3.4% decline in profit before tax to Ush525.09 billion, with a significantly lower tax charge helping offset slower growth in the company’s underlying operations.
The year-on-year increase in PAT was partly influenced by a Ush110.9 billion transfer-pricing settlement recorded in the first half of 2025. Excluding that impact, MTN Uganda posted an adjusted PAT of Ush377.90 billion in H1 2025, meaning the latest performance was slightly lower on an adjusted basis.
Service revenue increased 9.4% to Ush1.87 trillion, although the pace of growth slowed from 13.3% recorded during the same period last year. Growth was driven primarily by data and fintech, with data revenue rising 15.6% to Ush566.76 billion and fintech revenue climbing 10.7% to Ush580.59 billion.
Voice revenue, meanwhile, grew by only 1.8% to Ush640.40 billion, highlighting the continued shift in MTN Uganda’s revenue mix towards digital services.
Data revenue has more than doubled from Ush237.65 billion in H1 2022, while fintech revenue has grown substantially from Ush302.12 billion over the same period.
The company’s customer base also expanded, with total subscribers rising 11.2% to 25.4 million. Active data subscribers reached 12.6 million, while fintech users increased to 14.8 million.
Data traffic grew 26.9%, while the value of transactions processed through MoMo rose 26.8% to Ush113.3 trillion across 2.6 billion transactions.
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Data accounted for 30.4% of MTN Uganda’s service revenue, up from 22.9% in H1 2023. Over the same period, the contribution of voice revenue declined from 43.0% to 34.3%, underscoring the growing importance of data and fintech to the operator’s business.
However, rising costs remained a key challenge. Total expenses increased 15.1%, outpacing revenue growth and limiting EBITDA growth to 4.7% at Ush967.51 billion. The EBITDA margin consequently fell to 51.2% from 53.7%.
EBIT was broadly flat, increasing by just 0.2%, while higher lease expenses linked to the network expansion programme contributed to increased finance costs. Despite the pressure, the EBITDA margin remained above management’s medium-term target floor of 50%.
MTN Uganda also stepped up capital investment during the period. Capital expenditure excluding leases increased 44.6% to Ush317.67 billion as the company invested in network capacity, fibre infrastructure and wider geographical coverage.
The operator added 224 new sites during the period, taking 4G population coverage to 93.3% and 5G coverage to 25.6%. Its fibre network also expanded to more than 35,000 kilometres.
The stronger cash returns were reflected in the interim dividend, which rose to Ush17.25 per share from Ush10.00 in H1 2025 and Ush5.60 in H1 2023, signalling continued growth in shareholder distributions despite moderating operating growth and higher investment needs.
