Nigeria’s demand that all of MTN’s 75 million subscribers be registered with national ID numbers in two weeks might seem like the authorities are gunning for it once again. It’s more nuanced than that.
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MTN is in a race against time to get about half its subscribers to comply with the Nigerian government’s stipulation that their Sims be connected to their ID numbers by the end of the year.
Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator has ordered mobile phone users to link their devices to their national identity numbers, raising the prospect of millions of lines being blocked.
Nigeria has ordered telecommunications companies, including MTN Group, to suspend the sale of Sim cards while authorities check their compliance with registration guidelines.
MTN Nigeria on Wednesday reported a sharp rise in subscriber numbers in the third quarter – up 3.9 million from the second quarter to reach 75 million – while active data subscribers climbed by 1.7 million.
Ferdi Moolman, the longstanding CEO of MTN Nigeria, MTN Group’s largest operating subsidiary, will step down from the role at the end of February 2021.
Nigeria’s central bank said it will grant more licences for payment service banks but set a minimum capital base that could deter telecommunications firms and some other potential new entrants.
MTN Nigeria’s profit margin, measured using Ebitda, fell by two percentage points to 51.3% in the six months to June 2020, partly due to accounting changes and Covid-19.
MTN Nigeria expects its profit margin to dip by almost half a percentage point this year as its leased tower services feel the impact of weaker currency exchange rates, it said on Thursday.
MTN Group said it is implementing cost control measures, focusing on mission critical expenses and enhanced oversight of expenditure, amid uncertainty over the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.