MTN Rwanda this month marked one year since its listing directly on Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE). The telco listed on May 4, 2021, with 20 per cent of shares being held by the public.

In the first year at the RSE, the firm’s stock price remained stable standing at Rwf179 per share as of May 16. The share price stability has been driven by performance in 2021 and first quarter of 2022.

At the end of 2021, MTN Rwanda reported an after-tax profit of Rwf22.4 billion, an increase by 10.9 per cent compared to the year before.

In the first three months of 2022, service revenue increased by 24.5 per cent to Rwf50.9 billion year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022.

From the latest quarterly report (Q1, 2022), all the telco’s revenue streams, data, voice, Mobile Money and enterprise maintained positive growth year-on-year, according to the quarterly report released on May 5.

Voice remained the largest driver of revenue accounting for 43.6 per cent of total revenue, growing by 11.7 per cent drawing from last year’s decision to make permanent the offer to allow subscribers to use any voice bundle to call other mobile networks in Rwanda at no additional cost.

Data revenue maintained its positive momentum rising by 13.8 per cent led by a combination of increased subscribers and usage, highlighting a traffic increase by 33.3 per cent, and generally contributing to 17.1 per cent of service revenue.

According to the report, mobile subscribers increased by 306,000 in the first quarter, representing 5 per cent growth in subscribed people compared to March 2021.

MTN Rwanda’s wholly owned subsidiary company, Mobile Money Rwanda Ltd’s revenue recorded a growth of 54.5.per cent from their leading service Mobile Money.

This plays an important role in financial inclusion in Rwanda as driven by an increase of 12.1 per cent of Mobile Money users, bringing the penetration to 3.8 million.

The telco also reported growth in subscriber base to 6.5 million people is driven by the stabilization of distribution network following the introduction of new sim registration guidelines that slowed down the customer base growth in the last quarter of 2021.

Mitwa Ng’ambi, CEO of MTN Rwanda, said: "The Rwandan economy was fully opened in Q1 following Covid-19 related restrictions in previous quarters, underpinning the positive month-on-month commercial and financial momentum which has translated into encouraging results.”

"The rest of the year will see us investing in innovation and network capacity to meet the growing needs of our customers, while also managing costs to maintain healthy margins,” she added.

Mark Nkurunziza, MTN Rwanda Chief Finance Officer, said the net finance costs increased by 105 per cent on the back of additional debt raised to support the license renewal resulting into a Profit after Tax decline of 39.6 per cent closing at Rwf4.1 billion.

"Nevertheless, we remain encouraged by the top line growth and impact of our cost efficiencies program which we believe will continue to improve our margins,” he said.

The Board of Directors, on March 7, approved that the dividend payment will be made by June 30, to all shareholders on the share register by June 9, subject to shareholder approval at the Annual General Meeting on June 2.

Meaning that dividends at Rwf4.98 per share will be distributed, totaling approximately Rwf6.7 billion representing 30 per cent of the net profit made in 2021.

In support to Rwanda’s ambition of cashless economy, the telco noted that it will expand its Mobile Money product portfolio to further drive the uptake of digital products and services tailored to customer needs leading to growth in data usage.

Last year also had its share of challenges where the telco faced customer complaints regarding the quality of network quality especially for voice.

Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) issued an Enforcement Notice which was extended to March 31, 2022. MTN Rwanda demonstrated significant improvement made and continues to engage with the regulator.

In the first quarter of the year, MTN recognized and provided financial support to twenty female-led cooperatives through the annual Connect Women in Business initiative, which was launched in conjunction with the Ministry of Gender and Family promotion.

The telco also continued to build on its goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, through the installation of a solar power pilot at its main data centre. The success of this pilot will see the company offloading more of its power needs into this renewable energy source through the year.