JOHANNESBURG, Nov 17 (Reuters) - South Africa's MTN

said on Monday its service revenue for the nine months

to September rose by 25.9%, driven by strong performances in

Nigeria and Ghana.

Africa's biggest telecom operator, which has more than 300

million customers in 16 markets across the continent, said that

excluding the effect of currency fluctuations, group service

revenue increased by 22.6%.

MTN Nigeria led growth with a 57.1% rise in service revenue

while MTN Ghana rose 35.9%, supported by lower inflation and

more stable exchange rates.

However, MTN South Africa saw a slower growth of 2% as gains

in post-paid and enterprise were offset by continued pressure in

a highly competitive prepaid market.

Data revenue increased by 40%, driven by an expansion of

active data subscribers and strong demand, MTN said, while

Fintech revenue rose 35.7%.

MTN said 27.9 billion rand ($1.63 billion) in capital

expenditure to help expand its commercial business had helped

drive growth in data traffic and fintech transactions.

Customer numbers grew 5% to 301 million.

MTN said it plans to expand its AI-powered digital inclusion

initiative with Microsoft ( MSFT ) across Africa in early 2026.

($1 = 17.0942 rand)