A standout MoMo quarter against an unlikely backdrop
On 29 April 2026, Scancom PLC — the listed entity behind MTN Ghana — released its Q1 2026 interim financial results for the quarter ended 31 March 2026. The headline for momocalc readers: mobile money revenue grew 28.4% year-on-year to GH¢1.7 billion. That growth came after Ghana abolished its 1% E-Levy on mobile money transfers in April 2025, which the previous administration had introduced in May 2022.
The 28.4% growth is the cleanest evidence to date that levy removal unlocked transaction volume rather than just user sentiment. Critics of the abolition had argued the E-Levy was an easy revenue lever and that users would not return to MoMo even after it was gone. Q1 2026 numbers across MTN MoMo, AirtelTigo Money and Telecel Cash all point the other way: small-ticket transfers — the segment most sensitive to per-transaction friction — rebounded fastest, and MTN specifically attributes the data revenue acceleration to deeper digital usage that compounds with MoMo activity.
The MMFL spin-off: a structural milestone
The most consequential governance change in the quarter is the formal separation of MobileMoney Limited into a newly incorporated subsidiary, MobileMoney Fintech Ltd (MMFL), effective 31 March 2026. The merger and reorganisation was completed under Ghana's Payment Systems and Services Act, 2019, which requires fintech operations to sit in a discretely licensed and capitalised entity. No new shares were issued and the shareholding structure was preserved.
The spin-off is more than a regulatory housekeeping exercise. It cleanly separates MoMo's economics from the telecom parent, makes it materially easier to invite third-party investment into the fintech specifically, and aligns Ghana's MoMo business with the model MTN already runs in Nigeria. The Nigerian equivalent, MTN MoMo Payment Service Bank, has been the platform that enabled deals like the Thunes international-receive expansion in November 2025. Expect MMFL Ghana to follow a similar trajectory through 2026-2027.
First-ever quarterly dividend
For the first time in its public-company history, Scancom declared a quarterly dividend of GH¢0.06 per share — composed of GH¢0.03 from Scancom and GH¢0.03 from MMFL. The record date is 5 June 2026 and payment is 18 June 2026. This is a deliberate departure from MTN Ghana's prior annual-dividend convention. For context, the 2025 full-year payout was GH¢0.48 per share, equal to roughly 81% of profit after tax — already a high payout ratio. Moving to quarterly distributions signals confidence in steady cash generation and recognises that a meaningful share of the dividend stream now comes specifically from the fintech segment.
The wider Q1 picture
The mobile money line sits inside a strong overall quarter. Service revenue rose 35.7% to GH¢7.3 billion. EBITDA reached GH¢4.5 billion, a 42.9% increase, at a 61.2% margin. Profit after tax came in at GH¢2.5 billion, up 46.8%. Capex was GH¢314 million. The headline growth driver was data: data revenue grew 52.3% to GH¢4.3 billion and is now 59% of service revenue, with 20.6 million active data subscribers consuming 18.8 GB per user per month (up 40.9%). Voice revenue, by contrast, contracted 3.7% to GH¢916 million — the familiar pattern of voice giving way to data and MoMo as the two structural growth engines.
The macro backdrop helps: Ghana's headline inflation has come down sharply from the 23% averaged in Q1 2025, and the cedi has stabilised against the USD relative to the volatile mid-2020s. That makes the dataset cleaner — the YoY growth is not a base-effect mirage.
What this means for momocalc readers
Two practical implications. First, as MMFL scales and competes for share in a post-E-Levy market, competitive pressure on MoMo fees should intensify. AirtelTigo Money and Telecel Cash will respond. Second, the MMFL legal vehicle is the prerequisite for international-receive corridor partnerships — expect MMFL Ghana to follow the Nigerian playbook and integrate with cross-border hubs through 2026. That would directly improve options for the Ghanaian diaspora.
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