MTN Uganda has closed the final year of its Ambition 2025 strategy with strong financial and operational performance, underscoring the success of the telecom giant’s five-year push to transform from a traditional telecom operator into a digital platform business.
The company reported total revenue of UGX 3.6 trillion in 2025, up 13.6% year-on-year, while service revenue grew 13.4% to UGX 3.57 trillion.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 17% to UGX 1.94 trillion, with the EBITDA margin expanding to 53.8%, while profit after tax reached UGX 678.8 billion.
The results mark the culmination of the Ambition 2025 Strategy, launched across MTN Group in 2021 to reposition the company as a technology-driven digital ecosystem built around connectivity, fintech, and data services.
By the end of 2025, MTN’s customer base had grown to 24.2 million subscribers, with 12 million active data users and 14.7 million fintech users, reflecting the accelerating adoption of digital services across the country.
MTN 2025 performance snapshot
The telecom delivered a strong financial and operational performance in 2025, closing the Ambition 2025 Strategy cycle with sustained growth across its key business segments.
Total revenue rose from UGX 3.17 trillion in 2024 to UGX 3.6 trillion in 2025, representing year-on-year growth of 13.6%.
Service revenue, which excludes device and SIM card sales, increased from UGX 3.14 trillion to UGX 3.57 trillion, a 13.4% rise, reflecting continued demand for data and fintech services.
Operating profitability also strengthened during the year. EBITDA increased from UGX 1.66 trillion in 2024 to UGX 1.94 trillion in 2025, marking a growth of 17%, while the EBITDA margin expanded from 52.2% to 53.8%, underscoring the company’s strong cost discipline and operating efficiency.
Net earnings continued to rise, with profit after tax growing from UGX 641.5 billion in 2024 to UGX 678.8 billion in 2025, representing a 5.8% increase.
Operational indicators also reflected the continued expansion of MTN’s digital ecosystem. The company’s subscriber base grew from 22 million in 2024 to 24.2 million in 2025, a 10% increase, while active data users rose from 10.1 million to 12 million, representing a growth of 18.6%.
The fintech platform continued to scale as well, with fintech users increasing from 13.8 million to 14.7 million, reflecting 6.5% growth.
Together, these figures illustrate a company that has not only expanded its scale but also deepened its digital ecosystem as it concludes the five-year Ambition 2025 strategy cycle.
Ambition 2025: A strategy that delivered
The Ambition 2025 Strategy was built around a central objective: transform MTN from a connectivity provider into a digital platform business powering Africa’s progress.
The results from Uganda suggest the strategy has delivered measurable gains.
Between 2021 and 2025, MTN grew total revenue by 75%, from UGX 2.06 trillion to UGX 3.60 trillion, while profit after tax nearly doubled from UGX 340 billion to UGX 679 billion.
EBITDA increased 83%, reaching nearly UGX 2 trillion, while the EBITDA margin improved from 51.3% to 53.8%.
At the same time, the company expanded its subscriber base from 15.7 million to 24.2 million customers, while the number of active data users more than doubled to 12 million over the same period.
These numbers reflect both the expansion of Uganda’s digital economy and MTN’s continued dominance in the telecommunications market.
A shift in the revenue engine
Perhaps the most significant outcome of the strategy has been the transformation of MTN’s revenue mix.
Traditional voice services, once the core of telecom revenues, have increasingly given way to data and fintech services.
Voice revenue grew only modestly over the period, rising from UGX 1.09 trillion in 2021 to UGX 1.27 trillion in 2025, reflecting the maturity of the voice market.
In contrast, data revenue surged by more than 150%, growing from UGX 412 billion to UGX 1.05 trillion during the strategy cycle, driven by smartphone adoption, rising data consumption and expanded broadband services.
Fintech services, anchored by the MTN MoMo platform, also doubled in size, with revenue growing from UGX 525 billion in 2021 to UGX 1.11 trillion in 2025.
By 2025, fintech accounted for more than 31% of service revenue, while data services contributed nearly 30%, highlighting the strategic pivot away from traditional telecom services.
Digital services, though still relatively small, also expanded during the period, growing from UGX 7 billion to UGX 15 billion, reflecting growing demand for content, media and value-added services on the network.
Fintech ecosystem gains momentum
The rapid expansion of MTN’s fintech ecosystem has been one of the defining features of the Ambition 2025 Strategy.
By 2025, the telecom reported 14.7 million fintech users, supported by a network of 241,000 agents and more than 114,000 merchants.
Transaction activity across the platform also continued to grow, with transaction volumes reaching 5 billion in 2025, while the value of transactions processed through the platform rose to UGX 195.5 trillion.
Growth has been driven by expanding use cases for mobile money, including merchant payments, lending, savings and international remittances, positioning MoMo as one of Uganda’s largest digital financial ecosystems.
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MTN’s transformation has also been underpinned by significant network investment. In 2025 alone, the company invested UGX 549 billion in network infrastructure, expanding coverage and improving capacity to support growing data demand.
By the end of the year, 4G population coverage had reached 88.6%, while 3G coverage stood at 96.2%, with continued rollout of 5G services across the country.
These investments have supported rapid growth in data traffic and broadband adoption, reinforcing MTN’s leadership in Uganda’s digital connectivity market.
Sylvia Mulinge’s execution phase
Although Ambition 2025 was launched in 2021, much of its execution in Uganda has taken place under the leadership of Sylvia Mulinge, who joined the company as chief executive officer in October 2022.
Mulinge inherited a strategy already in motion but was tasked with accelerating its delivery in one of East Africa’s most competitive telecom markets.
The period since her arrival has coincided with a sharp expansion in MTN’s scale and digital ecosystem.
Between 2023 and 2025, MTN’s total revenue grew from UGX 2.72 trillion to UGX 3.6 trillion, while service revenue rose from UGX 2.69 trillion to UGX 3.57 trillion, reflecting sustained double-digit growth as demand for digital services accelerated.
Profitability also strengthened during this period. EBITDA increased from UGX 1.41 trillion in 2023 to UGX 1.94 trillion in 2025, while the EBITDA margin expanded from 51.7% to 53.8%, underscoring disciplined cost management alongside revenue growth.
Customer growth was equally notable. MTN Uganda’s subscriber base expanded from 19.3 million in 2023 to 24.2 million in 2025, while active data users grew from 8.1 million to 12 million, reflecting the rapid expansion of Uganda’s data economy.
The fintech ecosystem also continued to scale under Mulinge’s leadership. Fintech users increased from 12.6 million in 2023 to 14.7 million in 2025, while fintech revenue rose from UGX 800 billion to UGX 1.11 trillion, driven by growing adoption of mobile payments, lending and merchant services.
At the same time, the company continued investing heavily in digital infrastructure, including network expansion and broadband capacity upgrades to support rising data consumption across the country.
Reflecting on the company’s performance, Mulinge said the results demonstrate the resilience and agility of the business.
“As we conclude the Ambition 2025 Strategy, I am pleased with the achievements delivered by MTN Uganda over this period. These results reflect our sustained commitment to customer centricity, supported by rigorous network investment and continued innovation in a rapidly evolving environment.”
Navigating industry headwinds
MTN’s growth has also been achieved against a backdrop of regulatory and economic challenges.
The telecom sector has faced pressure from mobile termination rate cuts, regulatory changes, and shifting taxation policies, which have affected traditional voice revenues.
Despite these pressures, MTN maintained strong profitability, supported by disciplined cost management and expanding digital services.
The company also benefited from relatively stable macroeconomic conditions in 2025, including low inflation and a stable currency, which helped support consumer spending and business confidence.
The Ambition 2021-25 scorecard
A five-year snapshot illustrates the transformation achieved during the strategy cycle:
| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 5-Year Change |
| Total Revenue (UGX bn) | 2,060 | 2,286 | 2,720 | 3,173 | 3,604 | 75% |
| Service Revenue (UGX bn) | 2,040 | 2,266 | 2,692 | 3,144 | 3,566 | 75% |
| EBITDA (UGX bn) | 1,058 | 1,179 | 1,405 | 1,655 | 1,937 | 83% |
| EBITDA Margin | 51.3% | 51.6% | 51.7% | 52.2% | 53.8% | +2.5pp |
| Profit After Tax (UGX bn) | 340 | 406 | 491 | 642 | 679 | ~2x |
| Subscribers (million) | 15.7 | 17.2 | 19.3 | 22.0 | 24.2 | 54% |
| Active Data Users (million) | 5.3 | 6.7 | 8.1 | 10.1 | 12.0 | 126% |
| Fintech Users (million) | 9.9 | 11.0 | 12.6 | 13.8 | 14.7 | 48% |
| Voice Revenue (UGX bn) | 1,090 | 1,140 | 1,210 | 1,260 | 1,273 | 17% |
| Data Revenue (UGX bn) | 412 | 511 | 640 | 812 | 1,046 | 154% |
| Fintech Revenue (UGX bn) | 525 | 656 | 800 | 948 | 1,112 | 112% |
| Digital Revenue (UGX bn) | 7 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 114% |
The figures show a business that has grown not only in scale but also in the diversity of its revenue streams.
What comes after Ambition 2025?
As MTN closes the Ambition 2025 chapter, the company is already positioning itself for the next phase of growth.
Key priorities include the structural separation of the fintech business, continued investment in fibre and broadband infrastructure, and further expansion of digital services.
The company has also indicated plans to maintain upper-teens service revenue growth, while sustaining an EBITDA margin above 50%.
A digital platform in the making
Five years after the launch of Ambition 2025, the numbers suggest that MTN has largely delivered on its strategic objectives.
Revenue has expanded significantly, digital services have become the main drivers of growth, and the company has strengthened its position at the centre of Uganda’s digital economy.
The challenge now is defining the next phase of growth.
For MTN, the future will likely depend on how effectively it can scale its fintech ecosystem, deepen data adoption, and expand digital services in a rapidly evolving telecommunications landscape.
