MTN Group said service revenue grew just below 10 percent and EBITDA just above 10 percent for the six months ended 30 June 2019.

Service revenue grew 9.7 percent to R67.9 billion and EBITDA rose 10.2 percent to R31.2 billion.

MTN added 7.7 million subscribers in the first six months of the year to reach 240 million subscribers. The number of active data users grew by 3.5 million to 82 million and active Mobile Money users grew by 2.4 million to 30 million.

“We had a good first half, reporting solid financial results, good commercial momentum and encouraging strategic progress,” Rob Shuter, president and CEO of MTN Group, said.

MTN’s Capex intensity dropped to 16.9 percent.

MTN said it instant messaging platform, Ayoba, is live in three of West African markets and has more than 300,000 active monthly users.

MTN South Africa will focus on the turnaround of the enterprise business, the recovery of prepaid and the launch of Mobile Money.

MTN Nigeria will focus on the rollout of 4G coverage and the launch of Ayoba and Music Time.