MTN Fintech Revenue Drops 26% After Xtratime Suspension, MoMo Migrates to Alipay+

MTN Nigeria's fintech revenue plunged 25.9% to ₦97.5 billion ($72.4 million) in the nine months to September 2026, dragged down by the April-June suspension of Xtratime airtime and data credit service. The service resumed in July under a new multi-partner compliance model, with Q3 fintech revenue bouncing back 78.5% from Q2—but still hasn't recovered to pre-suspension levels. Fintech now contributes just 2.1% of MTN's ₦4.61 trillion total revenue.

Meanwhile, MoMo Payment Service Bank migrated to Ant Group's Alipay+ platform in August, aiming to boost transaction speed and reliability. Monthly active users stand at 3.2 million, down from 5 million active wallets reported in H1 2026, though Q3 transaction volumes surged 69% quarter-on-quarter. Core mobile money revenue more than doubled (up 102%), driven by wallet balances quadrupling to ₦43.8 billion—but deposits remain short-term and transactional.

MTN targets restoring Xtratime to full capacity by November 2026 and growing MoMo to 30 million users medium-term, part of a structural separation where MTN Group takes 60% of the fintech holding company. OPay currently leads with ~50 million active customers.

If you rely on Xtratime for emergency airtime, will the restored service meet your needs by November? And with MoMo's new Alipay+ backbone, would you trust it for daily transactions over OPay or PalmPay?

SOURCE: https://techcabal.com/2026/11/02/mtn-momo-alipay-fintech-revenue-q3-2026/