MTN group lists 200m subscribers, loses 3.2m

MTN Group, yesterday,
announced that it had attained
200 million subscribers
milestone across its 22
operations in Africa and the
Middle East.
This is even after cutting off
about 3.2 million Nigerian
subscribers from its network.
In celebration of the feat, the
company announced a R200
million initiative to improve the
quality of education across its
markets in Africa and the
Middle East in the next two
years.
The cut off of Nigerian
subscribers was
notwithstanding the impressive
impact the region made in the
overall revenue standing in its
half year report.
The company posted a 22
percent rise in first-half
earnings as foreign exchange
gains from international
operations.
Nigeria was the biggest
revenue earner in the six-
month period, although
earnings from the country and
other international operations
were boosted by a 16 percent
decline in the South African
rand.
However, MTN said it had to cut
off 3.2 million users out of its
55.2 million customers in
Nigeria in July due to
regulations demanding that all
subscribers be registered
Group President and CEO of the
company, Mr. Sifiso Dabengwa,
while announcing the
development said that as a
multinational
telecommunications company
operating in emerging markets,
MTN had been exposed to a
particular opportunity of
making meaningful
contribution to social
development.
Dabengwa also added that
"due to the lack of access to
quality education and
infrastructure, and low literacy
rates in most of these
countries, MTN has chosen to
direct a significant amount of
its corporate social (CSI) spend
towards education over the
next two year. This will provide
people with the skills,
knowledge and confidence they
need to make positive
decisions about their lives.
"As seen in MTN's 2013 interim
results released today,
(yesterday) MTN is a growth
company with a solid
performance record and an
inspirational vision to lead the
delivery of a bold new digital
world to its customers.
It will continue to share the
fruits of its success with
customers and communities
through, among others,
offering affordable and
innovative services, as well as
investing in social upliftment
and network infrastructure to
improve the quality of its
services" he added.
Meanwhile, stiff price
competition between the four
telecoms providers in its home
turf, including the Vodacom,
Cell C and Telkom, hit MTN's
margins. MTN said its South
African EBITDA margin fell by
2.1 percentage points in the
first half, from 35.4 percent a
year ago. "The focus on costs
for South Africa is going to be
important as we deal with this
kind of structural pricing
situation that we have seen
during the first half of the
year," Chief Executive Sifiso
Dabengwa said in a
presentation.
MTN's South African
subscribers shrank by 1.5
percent to 25 million in the first
six months, while revenue
declined by 1.4 percent from
the previous year. The
numbers were worse than
expected. They have clearly
not kept up with the market,"
said an analyst who asked not
to be identified because he is
not allowed to give named
quotes to media.
The company added 12.2
million new users in the first six
months, in line with a 21.1
million subscribers target for
the year. Dabengwa said MTN
was still in talks regarding
repatriation of a $400 million
loan from Iran and a further
$50-$200 million in .
He said last month's
resignation of chief financial
officer Nazir Patel was not
related to its operations in Iran,
as some media reports have
speculated.
MTN, which failed to clinch a
much coveted licence in
Myanmar earlier this year, said
it had dropped talks to acquire
Neotel, the South African unit
of India's Tata
Communications. MTN's diluted
headline earnings per share
totaled 649 cents for the six
months to end-June, compared
with 532 cents last year.
Headline EPS, the main profit
gauge in South Africa, excludes
certain one-time items.
It had flagged earlier this
month its results would likely
rise by as much as 25 percent.
Group revenue rose nearly 10
percent to 65.2 billion rand
($6.53 billion), and subscribers
totalled 201.5 million, a 6.5
percent increase. MTM shares
closed 1.6 percent higher,
ahead of the benchmark
Top-40 index which was up 0.9
percent.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN