MTN subscribers drop to 8.9m
What you need to know:
MTN Uganda’s revenues increased by 55.8 per cent, accounting for about 16.8 per cent of generated total revenue from the country’s operations
MTN Uganda, the country’s largest telecom, has reported a dip in subscriber numbers, according to financial report released Thursday in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The fall, according to the report was occasioned by regulatory requirements, which demanded that MTN implements UCC’s SIM card registration policy in the last quarter of last year.
Subscriber numbers fell from 11.5 million for the period ending September 30, 2015 to 8.9 million for the year ended December 2015.
In the period running between November 31, 2015 and February 29, 2016 the telecom recovered some numbers jumping from 7.8 million to close at 8.9 million.
At the end of November last year Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) implemented the SIM card registration policy, meaning that MTN disconnected 3.7 million SIM cards at the time that had not fully registered.
Speaking in an interview Thursday Mr Brian Gouldie, the MTN Uganda managing director, declined to go in details of the report but said they would tomorrow (Friday) provide a full report in relation to the Ugandan perspective, which would explain in part operational and regulatory challenges.
However, MTN Group’s subscribers increased by 4.1 per cent to 232.5 million, despite substantial SIM card disconnections of about 10.4 million subscribers in both Uganda and Nigeria.
In Nigeria, where the telecom was fined R9.2b (Shs1.98 trillion) for disregarding regulatory requirement to severe unregistered SIM cards, MTN disconnected about 6.7 million SIM cards.
“Nigeria and Uganda disconnected 6.7 million and 3.7 million subscribers respectively,” noted the report released Thursday.
The disconnections, among other factors, including “weak macro-economic conditions, increased market competition, heightened regulatory pressures and operational challenges in some of our markets” impacted the company’s earnings posting revenues that were “lower-than-expected,” according to notes published along the report.
However, MTN Group largely benefited from a rapid growth in mobile money services, especially in Uganda and growth of data traffic by 108.5 per cent.
MTN Uganda’s revenues increased by 55.8 per cent, accounting for about 16.8 per cent of generated total revenue from the country’s operations.
Group mobile money subscribes increased by 56.3 per cent to 34.7 million across 15 countries.
MTN Group revenue remained flat at R146.3b (Shs31.5 trillion), mainly due to heightened policies and foreign exchange volatilities, which has seen the South Africa Rand drop by 25 per cent in the last year.
The report also highlighted slowed revenue growth in some of the company’s markets, including Uganda, Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
