MTN grows subscribers by 3.7%, surpasses 170m
MTN Group reported on Friday (4 May 2012) a 3.7% rise in subscriber numbers for quarter ended 31 March 2012, to 170.573 million.
“The Group delivered a satisfactory performance notwithstanding continued high levels of competition in key markets,” it said in a statement.
MTN South Africa contributed 13.3% to group subscribers “and delivered a sound performance in a mature market”.
It increased its subscriber base 3.2% for the quarter, to 22.735 million, MTN said. The post-paid segment increased its subscriber base by 4.4%, mainly due to attractive data propositions. The prepaid segment increased its subscriber base by 2.9%, despite increased competition, the operator said.
‘This was attributable to competitive promotions including the continued success of MTN Zone through improved informal distribution channels,” MTN said.
Blended ARPU declined 7.9%, mainly due to a reduction in interconnect rates to 56 cents in March 2012, from 73 cents previously. Postpaid and prepaid ARPU decreased 6.7% and 8.1%, respectively.
South African ARPU slipped to R123.5 from R134.2 in December.
MTN Nigeria contributed 25.1% to group subscribers and increased its subscriber base by 3% to 42.899 million for the quarter. Net connections of 1.258 million were negatively impacted by a nationwide strike in January and aggressive competition.
“Slower net connections at the beginning of the year resulted in a marginal loss of MTN’s share of the market. However, corrective measures enabled the operation to increase network capacity and improve net connections later in the quarter. No clarity has yet been provided on the deadline for SIM registration. The harmonizing of MTN Nigeria’s database of registered subscribers with the NCC database is in progress.”
“Local currency ARPU declined by 1.1% for the quarter,” MTN said.
MTN Irancell contributed 21.6% to group subscribers. On a proportional basis, reflecting MTN’s 49% ownership, its contribution was 11.9%.
“It continued to deliver a solid performance growing its subscriber base by 6,2% and increasing its share of the market for the quarter,” MTN said, adding that local currency ARPU increased 3.7% due to improved network quality. A third mobile operator is expected to launch commercially in the second quarter of 2012.
MTN Ghana contributed 6.1% to group subscribers, increasing its subscribers 2.3% for the quarter and maintaining market share in a competitive environment. Local currency ARPU increased by 3,4% mainly because of revised value propositions. The sixth mobile operator had its commercial launch at the end of April 2012, MTN noted.
MTN Syria contributed 3.3% to group subscribers. “Its performance continued to be hampered by civil unrest in the country, which resulted in a reduction of subscriber numbers of 23,000 subscribers and a decline in local currency ARPU of 8.5%,” the group said.
The rest of MTN’s operations contributed 30,5% to Group subscribers, representing an increase in users of 3,5%.
MTN said it continues to prioritise key initiatives to better manage the business as consumer trends evolve and competition intensifies. Data and related products and services continued to gain momentum. Data, including SMS, contributes 14.4% to revenue, driven mainly by MTN South Africa.
Mobile Money has now been launched in 13 countries. At the end of March 2012, MTN had 6.2 million Mobile Money subscribers, MTN said. “Initiatives to optimise costs continue to be rolled out and the centralized procurement initiative is showing solid progress.
“Network quality and capacity remains a key imperative for the Group. The majority of the operations continued to aggressively rollout network and achieved satisfactory progress for the quarter,” MTN concluded.
By mid-day on the JSE, shares in MTN improved 75 cents to R135.25.
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