Cellphone group MTN says it has lifted its subscriber market share in South Africa substantially despite tougher competition in the local market.

In notes accompanying its 2012 financial results published on Wednesday, the group says its market share in South Africa stood at 37,7% at the end of December, up from 34,1% just a year ago.

MTN South Africa’s subscriber base grew by 15,4% to 25,4m, helped by a 15% growth in the prepaid segment to 20,8m. It ascribes the growth mainly to its MTN Mahala and MTN Zone prepaid offerings, as well as strong growth in data services.

Data revenue rose by 37,6% to R6,4bn from 13,4m data users (10,9m before) and 5,5m smartphones on the network.

The post-paid subscriber base increased by 17,3% to 4,5m, helped by data offerings and the success of hybrid and telemetry packages.

Net connections for the year reached 3,4m compared to 3,2m in 2011.

MTN South Africa’s total revenue for the year was R41,4bn, up from R38,6bn previously.

Airtime revenue grew by 4,8% to R21,1bn, largely due to subscriber growth. During the year, MTN South Africa sold 6,7m prepaid phones and 1,3m post-paid phones.

In 2012, the South African business pumped R6,4bn into capital expenditure, with a focus on modernising the network and expanding 3G coverage and capacity.

Meanwhile, the MTN group lifted subscriber numbers by 16,2% to 164,5m, which helped push revenue up by 9,7% to R121,9bn. The group now has almost 190m customers, from 164,5m previously.

Despite difficult conditions in the key Nigerian market, the group’s profit margin, as measured according to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, rose strongly to 44,9%.

Headline earnings per share rose by 1,9% to R10,89, negatively affected by foreign exchange losses in relation to Iran, Syria and Sudan. The group has declared a final dividend of R5,03/share. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media