MTN accelerates growth in 2018 DetailsEditor | 10 March 2019 African telco MTN has revealed that for its financial year ended 31 December 2018, it has met all its medium-term targets, reducing its holding company leverage and accelerated service revenue growth.Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator, connecting more than 230 million subscribers in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa.During 2018, MTN says that it increased its subscriber base by 16 million to 233 million customers across 21 markets in Africa and the Middle East. The number of active data users increased by 10 million to 79 million and the active mobile money subscriber base rose to 27 million. The commercial momentum drove a 10.7% annual constant currency increase in service revenue to R125.4 billion.Group EBITDA rose more than 15% compared with 2017 and reported headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased to 337 cents from 182 cents in 2017. Adjusting for once-off items HEPS would have been 565 cents per share.