MTN dialling up progress

TechCentral

Fluctuating exchange rates have hit MTN’s numbers hard for the third quarter, with reported group total revenue and group service revenue reducing by 13.4% and 14% respectively year on year. But in constant currency terms, the company is showing signs of operational improvement.

On a constant currency basis, group total revenue increased 6.9%, with service revenue up 7.4%. Data revenue increased 31.4% and digital revenue was up 19.6%. However, subscriber numbers declined 0.7% quarter on quarter to 230.2 million, mainly as a result of lower reported subscribers in Nigeria and Uganda. This is due to a refinement in active subscriber definitions in Nigeria and Sim-card registration regulations in Uganda.

Voice traffic (billable minutes) increased 9% and data traffic continued to grow, up 125% year on year, MTN said. Year-to-date capital expenditure came in at R18 billion, up just over 1% on a year ago. Active MTN Mobile Money customers increased 10.6% over the second quarter to 19.8 million.

Group CEO Rob Shuter said network investments in SA and Nigeria are “showing encouraging improvements in network quality and Net Promoter Scores.

“In South Africa, the prepaid business performed well and progress is being made in the postpaid segment, particularly in consumer post-paid where we now have positive net adds in the year to date. In Nigeria, our month-onmonth gross connections have increased, and we experienced stable subscriber market share over the quarter while driving increased value share.”

MTN is on track to meet its fullyear guidance “despite continued challenging economic growth across our markets”.

In SA subscriber numbers declined 1% to 30.9 million, driven lower by prepaid, where there was higher churn following the withdrawal of a promotion in the second quarter. Post-paid subscriber numbers were stable. “The postpaid consumer segment recorded positive net additions in the quarter, demonstrating a continued encouraging recovery in this segment,” MTN said. “This was supported by improvements made in customer value management, increased channel footprint and enhanced churn management.”

MTN Nigeria grew revenue 11.2% (in constant currency terms). MTN Irancell, in which MTN has a 49% stake, performed well thanks to a 64.5% growth in data revenue.

This article was first published on TechCentral

Network investments in SA and Nigeria are showing encouraging improvements.

Rob Shuter Group CEO