TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Standard Bank IT spending tops R10-billion in six months

      19 August 2022

      Hungry Prosus to splurge up to R30.7-billion on iFood stake

      19 August 2022

      Koeberg unit shut down due to mechanical fault

      19 August 2022

      Blue Label expects robust full-year earnings growth

      19 August 2022

      Sarb tells banks they should work with crypto exchanges

      18 August 2022
    • World

      15 September pegged as target date for ethereum’s big ‘Merge’

      19 August 2022

      Qualcomm gets serious about servers

      19 August 2022

      China blasts US over ‘discriminatory’ Chips Act

      18 August 2022

      Tencent reports first-ever sales decline

      17 August 2022

      Chip makers are flashing a big warning for the global economy

      17 August 2022
    • In-depth

      Are you a chronic procrastinator? Read this!

      18 August 2022

      Semiconductor boom turns to bust

      16 August 2022

      African unicorn Flutterwave battles fires on multiple fronts

      11 August 2022

      The length of Earth’s days has been increasing – and no one knows why

      7 August 2022

      As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

      2 August 2022
    • Podcasts

      Qush on infosec: why prevention is always better than cure

      11 August 2022

      e4’s Adri Führi on encouraging more women into tech careers

      10 August 2022

      How South Africa can woo more women into tech

      4 August 2022

      Book and check-in via WhatsApp? FlySafair is on it

      28 July 2022

      Interview: Why Dell’s next-gen PowerEdge servers change the game

      28 July 2022
    • Opinion

      How AI could transform financial services in emerging markets

      19 August 2022

      No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

      11 July 2022

      Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

      8 July 2022

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Africa Data Centres
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Billing snafu, Rica hit MTN hard

    Billing snafu, Rica hit MTN hard

    News By Editor11 March 2010
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    MTN-HQ

    MTN SA continued to lose market share in the second half of 2009, shedding 6,4% of its subscriber base during the year, as significant IT and billing system problems, coupled with new regulations and the recession, hit the cellular network operator hard.

    Gross connections fell as a result of the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act (Rica), which requires mobile service providers to register subscribers’ personal details. The prepaid market was particularly hard hit by the Rica requirements, the MTN Group says in notes accompanying its financial results for the year to 31 December 2009.

    The postpaid segment was not impacted to the same extent by Rica, and showed subscriber growth of 9,8%.

    MTN SA’s revenue rose 3,1% to R33,1bn, suggesting the “prepaid subscribers lost during the Rica process were not as meaningful to revenue”. Average revenue per user rose R3 to R100, despite the disconnection of 1,4m prepaid customers.

    Billing systems at the SA business remain a significant challenge, the group admits. “Though some progress has been made on improving the various IT functions, further improvements are required.”

    MTN says more management attention is being given to improving support systems, including customer case and call centres, “in order to cope with the challenges”.

    The company has continued to invest heavily in its network, especially on new 3G base stations.

    “Capacity increased by 12% on 2G and 22% on 3G networks, with the integration of 496 2G and 659 3G base stations,” it says.

    3G towers covered 48% of the country’s population at the end of 2009, from 35% in December 2008.

    The company is also continuing to build a 5 000km national fibre network to reduce its reliance on Telkom for national backhaul.

    About 250km of the Gauteng-Durban project is completed, with the southern and northern rings of the Gauteng fibre projects to be completed by June 2010.  — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook
    MTN
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleTelecoms prices take a tumble
    Next Article Don’t repeat copyright mistakes

    Related Posts

    Standard Bank IT spending tops R10-billion in six months

    19 August 2022

    Hungry Prosus to splurge up to R30.7-billion on iFood stake

    19 August 2022

    Koeberg unit shut down due to mechanical fault

    19 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Does your contact centre have the CX factor?

    19 August 2022

    Entelek, A2pay to roll out 2 500 free Wi-Fi sites in South Africa

    18 August 2022

    Companies are drowning in data – but solutions are at hand

    18 August 2022
    Opinion

    How AI could transform financial services in emerging markets

    19 August 2022

    No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

    11 July 2022

    Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

    8 July 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.