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

      Fixing SA’s power crisis is not complex: it simply takes the will to do better

      12 August 2022

      Consortium makes unsolicited bid for state’s 40% stake in Telkom

      12 August 2022

      Actually, solar users should pay more to access the grid – here’s why

      12 August 2022

      Telkom says MTN talks remain on track

      12 August 2022

      Analysis | Rain muddies the waters with approach to Telkom

      11 August 2022
    • World

      Tencent woes mount, even after $560-billion selloff

      12 August 2022

      Huawei just booked its first sales rise since US blacklisting

      12 August 2022

      Apple remains upbeat about iPhone sales even as Android world suffers

      12 August 2022

      Ether at two-month high as upgrade to blockchain passes major test

      12 August 2022

      Gaming industry’s fortunes fade as pandemic ends

      11 August 2022
    • In-depth

      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

      Crypto breaks the rules. That’s the point

      27 July 2022

      E-mail scams are getting chillingly personal

      17 July 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

      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

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • 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»MTN shares slide as Nigeria capex rises

    MTN shares slide as Nigeria capex rises

    News By Duncan McLeod30 October 2019
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    MTN is Nigera’s biggest telecommunications operator

    MTN Group shares fell in Johannesburg on Wednesday after it said subscribers in its key Nigerian unit grew by only 0.1% in the quarter ended 30 September and capital expenditure rose.

    Quarter on quarter, MTN Nigeria added only 100 000 subscribers, bringing the total to 61.6 million. The unit’s CEO, Ferdi Moolman, blamed a Sim re-registration exercise for the slow growth as it was forced to disconnect about 600 000 active subscribers.

    Capex also rose sharply, up almost 40% year on year to 154.1-billion naira, as the company expanded its 4G/LTE network.

    Group shares were changing hands at R92.16 apiece at 11.30am, down 2.8% on the session.

    Highlights for the nine-month period to end-September include:

    • Active data users increased by 1.6 million to 22.3 million;
    • Service revenue increased by 12.1% to N854.9-billion;
    • Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation grew by an impressive 39.3% to N460.1-billion, which was ahead of revenue and inflation; and
    • Ebitda margin increased by 10.5 percentage points to 53.7%.

    “Our performance was very encouraging, demonstrating the resilience of our business despite a challenging operating environment. We sustained double-digit growth in service revenue led by growth in voice and data revenue,” said Moolman in a statement to group shareholders.

    “During the quarter, we focused on the end-to-end optimisation and re-positioning of our data offerings. We made significant investments in accelerating 4G network expansion; and, leveraging 800MHz spectrum activated in the second quarter of 2019, we launched enhanced 4G+ services in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.”

    Our performance was very encouraging, demonstrating the resilience of our business despite a challenging operating environment

    The company also changed its pricing strategy, “placing us in an even stronger competitive position going forward”.

    “As a result, we have begun to see promising results with active data subscriber net additions of 1.6 million and 4G population coverage at over 35% in 64 cities. Data traffic volume also increased by over 68%, while data revenue rose by 34.9% year on year.”

    Voice, however, remains a key contributor to service revenue at 73.5% (down marginally from 74.8% in the same period 2018), with its growth supported by an increase in subscribers, relatively stable tariffs and targeted offerings.

    “In the remaining quarter of the year, we will continue to prioritise the expansion of our 4G network coverage and drive active data subscriber growth. We expect voice and data revenue to continue to grow on the back of subscriber growth and increasing demand for data services.”  — (c) 2019 NewsCentral Media

    Ferdi Moolman MTN MTN Nigeria top
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleTim Berners-Lee warns Internet’s power for good is ‘under threat’
    Next Article Facebook suing Israeli company over ‘WhatsApp spyware’

    Related Posts

    Fixing SA’s power crisis is not complex: it simply takes the will to do better

    12 August 2022

    Consortium makes unsolicited bid for state’s 40% stake in Telkom

    12 August 2022

    Actually, solar users should pay more to access the grid – here’s why

    12 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Get your brand in front of TechCentral’s amazing audience

    12 August 2022

    Pricing Beyond CMYK: printers answer the FAQs

    11 August 2022

    How secure is your cloud?

    10 August 2022
    Opinion

    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

    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.