Subscribe

Data revenue a "key priority" for MTN

Paula Gilbert
By Paula Gilbert, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Johannesburg, 22 Apr 2016
MTN South Africa's data revenue grew by almost 23% year-on-year in Q1, while Ghana and Cameroon saw data revenue soar 111% and 79% respectively.
MTN South Africa's data revenue grew by almost 23% year-on-year in Q1, while Ghana and Cameroon saw data revenue soar 111% and 79% respectively.

Data revenue remains a key priority for MTN as the company saw constant currency data revenue grow by over 20% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2016. MTN says data revenue now contributes over 24% to total revenue, as the company outlined its quarterly successes and struggles for the three months to 31 March 2016.

The company also saw overall data traffic increase by over 123% year-on-year while voice traffic only grew 12%.

MTN says strong growth during the quarter can be largely attributed to targeted campaigns, the aggressive roll out of 3G and LTE in key markets and increased smartphone uptake. Significant network improvement across the group and the focused rollout of 3G and 4G sites saw capital expenditure more than doubling year-on-year to R6.9 billion.

In South Africa, data revenue grew by almost 23% year-on-year and contributed 32.8% to total revenue. This was supported by a 12% quarter-on-quarter increase in the value of data bundles sold, as well as an increase in smartphones to 9.2 million. In SA data usage in Q1 also increased by 58.5% year-on-year.

In Uganda constant currency data revenue increased by almost 24% year-on-year, while Ghana saw data revenue soar 111% and Cameroon saw an almost 79% increase. MTN Irancell grew constant currency data revenue by almost 71% quarter-on-quarter and MTN Sudan increased data revenue by 74%.

"Group revenue for the quarter was boosted by the significant year-on-year depreciation in the rand against a number of the operational currencies," the group revealed.

Subscriber numbers a mixed bag

MTN now has just over 229 million subscribers across 22 countries. The first quarter of 2014 saw a 1.4% drop overall from around 232 million subscribers in the final quarter of last year. However, when comparing the numbers to a year ago the telecoms operator has grown its overall subscriber base by 0.8%.

There were pockets of growth across MTN's extensive footprint but there were also significant subscriber drops in a number of countries, with Nigeria being the largest.

South Africa was one of the countries that declined in subscriber numbers, falling 1.7% on a quarter-on-quarter basis in the country. MTN now has 30 million subscribers in SA, which is still a 7.6% increase compared to Q1 of 2015.

The rest of the SEA region - which includes Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda, Botswana and Swaziland - saw 2% growth in subscribers in Q1, to22.7 million. This was mainly driven by strong growth in Uganda where subscribers grew 7.8% quarter-on-quarter to 9.6 million. A joint-venture in Botswana also saw an almost 4% increase in quarterly subscriber numbers.

Nigeria saw the biggest hit in terms of subscriber numbers in Q1 after MTN was forced to disconnect an additional 4.5 million subscribers in Nigeria to comply with a SIM registration process in the West African nation. This meant MTN Nigeria's subscriber base dropped almost 7% quarter-on-quarter to 57 million.

This was also a 6.7% drop year-on-year from the 61 million subscribers the telco had in Nigeria in the first quarter of 2015.

MTN is still facing a $3.9 billion (R56 billion) fine from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) after it missed a regulatory deadline to disconnect over five million subscribers in Nigeria last year. The market is still awaiting clarity on how much of the hefty fine MTN will actually pay, with negotiations continuing with Nigerian authorities.

The remainder of the WECA region however grew its subscriber base by 1.3% to 45.9 million. Besides Nigeria WECA includes Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Benin, Congo-Brazzaville, Liberia, Guinea-Conakry and Guinea-Bissau.

The shining stars were Ghana - which grew its subscriber base by 4.6% to 17 million - and Cameroon which now has 9.5 million subscribers, up 3.1% quarter-on-quarter.

Subscriber numbers in the MENA region were up just 0.7% to 73.6 million, with the majority of users in Iran. The area includes Iran, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Cyprus and South Sudan.

MTN Irancell increased its subscriber base by 1% quarter-on-quarter, to 46.6 million, in what MTN calls "a highly penetrated market". MTN Sudan was also a bright spot with its subscriber base growing 4% to 8.8 million.

"MTN Syria, MTN Yemen and MTN Afghanistan remain profitable, however, they continue to operate in highly challenging environments impacting the region's subscriber growth," MTN says.

Mobile Money in Flux

MTN saw its Mobile Money subscribers in Uganda taking a big hit in the first quarter of 2016, dropping by 27% to 6.9 million. The company says this was primarily due to disconnections connected to a subscriber registration process in the country.

Uganda has traditionally been one of the stronger markets for MTN, in terms of Mobile Money. In the company's annual results for the year ended 31 December 2015 Mobile Money revenue accounted for 16.8% of Uganda's total revenue. It also brought in around 6% of the revenue for both Ghana and Rwanda.

In Ghana MTN Mobile Money customers grew by 10.8% between Q4 of 2015 and Q1 of 2016, to over 6 million. MTN Cameroon also saw a 7.5% increase in MTN Mobile Money subscribers to 2.1 million.

MTN didn't give updated Q1 figures for the group's mobile money subscribers but at the end of 2015 the company confirmed that the group had 34.7 million Mobile Money customer across 15 countries.

Share