MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita has admitted that the group’s South African operation has lost market share to rival Telkom, especially in the prepaid mobile market.

According to Mupita, although competition from long-time rival Vodacom and on-the-mend Cell C remains intense, Telkom is grabbing market share in a “discernible” way from MTN South Africa.

“Have we lost market share to Cell C? Not in a way that is discernible. The [loss to] Telkom is discernible – we see that and it’s pretty clear,” Mupita said in response to a question from TechCentral at a press conference on Friday.

“Our insight into Cell C [tells us] they look for niche areas where they can be competitive – in youth offerings, for example. I think [Cell C CEO] Jorge [Mendes] and the team are building a pretty good business. They have decided they don’t want to be big but much more niche with a focus on profitability rather than scale.”

Cell C is busy with a turnaround that has included the strategic relinquishing of its own masts and towers in favour of a roaming strategy using its own spectrum on Vodacom and MTN infrastructure.

The progress at Cell C has prompted parent company Blu Label Unlimited Group to pursue a separate listing of the mobile operator, planned for next year. Even with Cell C’s improved performance, however, Telkom remains the greater threat to MTN, according to Mupita.

Towering Telkom

Both MTN Group and Telkom Group last month reported on their financial and operational progress, with MTN publishing its interim financial results for the six months to 30 June 2025 and Telkom providing a trading update the three months to the same date – or the first quarter of its 2026 financial year.

MTN South Africa’s performance was relatively flat, with service revenue up 2.3% year on year and data revenue growth of 4.3%. Voice revenue declined 2.2% and revenue from fintech – largely led by MTN Mobile Money – was not much higher at 2.4%. The enterprise division was a standout performer, with revenue growth of 11.6% – the only MTN South Africa division to report double-digit growth.

Read: No talks between MTN and Telkom: Ralph Mupita

MTN South Africa revised down its medium-term target for service revenue growth to “low to mid-single-digit” growth from “mid-single digit” previously, with the lower expectation signalling the competitive challenges MTN is facing in its home market.

Telkom, by contrast, reported that its mobile service revenue increased by 7.8% year on year and said it is “gaining value market share as it continues outpacing South African market growth rates”.

Telkom’s mobile data subscribers jumped by 27.5% to 17.2 million and homes connected with fibre rose by 17.5%, with a connectivity attachment rate – the number of homes connected where fibre in available – at a solid 51.1%.

Meanwhile, group Ebitda margin – Ebitda is a measure of operating profit – rose by 1.4 percentage points to 25.9%. MTN’s Ebitda margin declined by 0.1 percentage points to 36.5%, and the operator revised downwards it medium-term Ebitda outlook from 37-39% to 35-37%.

MTN is, however, not resting on its laurels. It is gearing up to take the fight back to Telkom, Mupita said. A raft of group-wide management changes announced last month include the introduction of Ferdi Moolman and Yolanda Cuba to the MTN South Africa leadership team. Moolman – who played a key role in MTN’s Nigerian expansion – replaces Charles Molapisi as CEO, who has returned to his previous role as group chief information and technology officer. Cuba will serve as deputy CEO of the South African operation.