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

      Where to next for Dimension Data

      5 July 2022

      Zapper is said to seek fundraising at huge valuation

      5 July 2022

      Stage-5 load shedding to continue until Thursday

      5 July 2022

      Big step forward for Cell C as debt deal approved

      5 July 2022

      Eskom unions accept 7% wage offer

      5 July 2022
    • World

      Bitcoin hints at a bottom – but it may be different this time

      5 July 2022

      China, US war of words erupts over lunar missions

      5 July 2022

      Tether fails to calm jittery nerves

      4 July 2022

      EU to impose wide-ranging new rules on the crypto industry

      3 July 2022

      Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows files for bankruptcy

      3 July 2022
    • In-depth

      The bonfire of the NFTs

      5 July 2022

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      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

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 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 South Africa muddles along in tough market

    MTN South Africa muddles along in tough market

    News By Duncan McLeod31 October 2019
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    MTN South Africa lost 300 000 customers in the quarter ended 30 September 2019, but still managed to eke out service revenue growth of 0.4%. It ended the period with 28.9 million subscribers.

    In the first nine months of the year, MTN Group’s home market reported a 4.6% decline in consumer prepaid service revenue, impacted by communications regulator Icasa’s data expiry rules, out-of-bundle data tariff reductions and a tough economic environment.

    However, it said the trend in consumer prepaid revenue in the September quarter was “encouraging”, with the decline moderating to 2.7% year on year compared to a 5.1% decline in the previous quarter, also year on year.

    We remain focused on returning to growth, supported by stabilising trends in voice and improvements in data

    “We remain focused on returning to growth, supported by stabilising trends in voice and improvements in data,” MTN said. “In the third quarter, data revenue showed encouraging year-on-year momentum with a return to positive growth recorded compared to a year-on-year decline in the second quarter ended June 2019.”

    MTN blamed the fall in subscriber numbers on the discontinuation of a 1GB acquisition promotion in prepaid, which resulted in a 400 000 reduction in subscribers to a closing base at the end of the September quarter of about 23 million. “We anticipate a normalisation of the base and customer profile by the first half of 2020.”

    By contrast, the consumer post-paid business delivered service revenue growth of 5.8% year on year “in a highly competitive market”.

    ‘Muted’

    “Net (post-paid) subscriber additions of 80 620 quarter on quarter were relatively muted, reflecting the tough trading environment and lower acquisition volumes as we continued to implement stricter vetting rules aimed at reducing credit risk and enhancing subscriber quality.”

    Wholesale revenue grew by 59.4% year on year, and included Telkom roaming revenues for the first six months (this contract ended in June) as well as Cell C roaming revenues for the first four months of the year.

    MTN said Cell C fulfilled all its commitments in line with a revised payment plan. If an accrual basis of accounting was applied to Cell C roaming revenue, MTN South Africa would have recorded service revenue growth of 3.5%.

    The enterprise business improved, though still reported a decline in service revenue of 7% year on year for the first nine months of the year (compared to a 7.9% decline in June).

    For the three months to September 2019, the year-on-year decline was 5%.

    “We are focused on further improving this trend, supported by reduced churn, strong growth in the enterprise business base with significant contract wins across the large enterprises and public sector segments. We expect these interventions to impact positively on the next few quarters as we target a return to year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter.”  — © 2019 NewsCentral Media

    • Now read: Cell C is now paying up for roaming, MTN says
    Cell C MTN MTN South Africa Telkom top
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleMboweni says e-tolls here to stay; Outa vows to fight on
    Next Article MTN to offload R8-billion in tower assets

    Related Posts

    Where to next for Dimension Data

    5 July 2022

    Zapper is said to seek fundraising at huge valuation

    5 July 2022

    Stage-5 load shedding to continue until Thursday

    5 July 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Hot Ink certifies and diversifies to maintain competitive printing edge

    5 July 2022

    Increased flexibility with Dell Precision Mobile Workstations

    5 July 2022

    The 5 secrets of customer experience in the cloud era

    5 July 2022
    Opinion

    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

    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.