MTN, one of Nigeria’s largest corporate taxpayers, has handed the federal and state governments a significant fiscal windfall, remitting ₦878.7 billion in taxes, levies, and duties in 2025—a 15% increase on the previous year—as the telecoms operator staged a dramatic recovery from the forex-driven losses that had hammered its finances.
The figures, disclosed in MTN Nigeria’s 2025 Sustainability Report, underscore the growing dependence of Nigerian authorities on large private-sector operators to plug revenue gaps as the government pursues an ambitious fiscal reform agenda aimed at reducing reliance on oil receipts.
The scale of MTN’s contribution to the public purse has grown sharply in recent years. The company paid ₦543.9 billion in taxes and levies in 2023, a figure that climbed to ₦764 billion the following year before reaching last year’s total—a cumulative rise of roughly 62% over two years, tracking almost exactly the trajectory of the company’s own financial recovery.
That recovery has been striking. Profit after tax surged to ₦1.11tn in 2025, while total revenue rose by 54.8% to ₦5.20tn. Operating profit nearly tripled, rising to ₦2.08tn from ₦778.2bn the previous year.
The ₦878.7 billion remitted to the government last year covered a broad range of obligations, including company income tax, value-added tax, spectrum fees, import duties, Nigerian Communications Commission levies, and contributions under the Rural and Urban Terrestrial Infrastructure tax credit scheme.
Beyond its core tax liabilities, MTN also committed ₦202.8 billion towards the reconstruction of the 110-kilometre Enugu-Onitsha Expressway under the federal government’s Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme—one of the flagship instruments through which Abuja channels corporate resources into long-neglected public infrastructure.
The Rural and Urban Terrestrial Infrastructure scheme, aimed at extending fibre and telecommunications networks to underserved communities, reached 50% completion in 2025 after the company secured approval for an additional ₦23 billion in tax credits to accelerate the rollout.
MTN also pointed to its expanding domestic economic footprint, with 62% of procurement spending directed to Nigerian suppliers last year, up from 59.6% in 2024. The company said the policy aligns with the federal government’s local-content drive and supports sectors ranging from civil construction and logistics to software services and power infrastructure.
Operationally, the company ended the year with 2,087 active base stations nationwide. Active mobile subscribers stood at 85.4 million by the third quarter of 2025, while active data users rose to 51.1 million, supported by smartphone penetration of 65.1%. The company also renewed its 800MHz spectrum licence for a further 10 years, extending its coverage rights to December 2034.
