MTN South Africa has shut down 53 base stations on a permanent basis due to “severe damage and vandalism”. Thirty-nine of these towers were in Tshwane and 15 in Johannesburg.
At least 500 Vodacom base stations in South Africa are targeted each month by criminal syndicates, with batteries and copper cables the main target, the company said on Thursday.
Regulators, including Icasa and the Competition Commission, will have to be pragmatic and lenient about a looming expanded tie-up between Cell C and MTN South Africa if the former isn’t going to go to the wall.
Mobile money is the fastest growing source of income for network operators such as MTN and Safaricom, outpacing data.
MTN South Africa is making “good progress” in its plans to relaunch mobile money services in South Africa, according to group CEO Rob Shuter.
Cell C said late on Thursday that it is up to date with all payments to MTN South Africa for its national roaming agreement.
Cell C has missed several payments to national roaming partner MTN South Africa, underscoring the dire financial straits in which the country’s third-largest mobile operator finds itself.
MTN Group’s first-half earnings rose as Africa’s largest wireless carrier pushed ahead with an asset disposal plan and saw strong profit growth in its biggest market of Nigeria.
MTN Group’s interim financial results for the six months to June 2019 show that its South African business is under pressure as the result of new sector regulations and the weak economy.
Financially strained telecommunications operator Cell C said on Wednesday that it has finalised a term sheet for a further national roaming agreement with rival MTN South Africa.