MTN adding 50k new data customers monthly
MTN says its has had another successful year with significant growth in data subscriber numbers and over 20% revenue growth year-on-year.
The mobile operator says that data business value propositions have been key in driving this growth, where it has acquired approximately 50,000 new data customers per month since January 2012.
In its interim results for the six months to 30 June 2012, MTN said that data revenue for its South African operation contributed 15.9% to total revenue compared to 11.6% in the prior comparative period.
At 30 June 2012, there were 11.9 million data users with 4.4 million smartphones, it said.
According to Serame Taukobong, chief marketing officer at MTN SA, as mobile data continues to grow exponentially, MTN has focused on aggressively-priced data packages to continue its competitiveness in this space.
“In fact, approximately five million 10 MB data bundles have been sold over the past year, and there has been a significant growth in bundle users – from 650,000 in January 2012 to 950,000 in June 2012,” Taukobong said.
“What’s more, hybrid packages continue to drive acquisitions on the post-paid base, which is indicative of the consumer appetite for more flexible payment options and control,” he continued.
The marketing lead said that giving customers the freedom to explore the virtual world and build up their own knowledge economy was the key to broadband access. However, he pointed out that only 16% of the devices on MTN’s network were 3G-capable.
“This has to change,” Taukobong said. “‘Therefore, a continued future focus for MTN is to shift significant traffic from 2G to 3G, especially if we consider that 78% of data is carried on the 3G network currently, and to minimise expenditure on 2G network equipment – making sure we are focusing on providing our customers with the data access they want and need.”
Infrastructure investment
MTN said it will invest approximately R7 billion in network infrastructure in 2013 to ensure that it has the capacity and capability to service its growing customer base.
The group invested a total of R2 billion capex in its network in 2011, which saw 314 new 2G sites, and 598 new 3G sites rolled out.
A further R5 billion investment has been injected in 2012, resulting in 204 new 2G sites, and 696 new 3G sites being rolled out.
This investment focuses on rolling out additional 2G capacity to cater for the growth in both data and voice traffic across the country, and further expansion of 2G network to provide additional coverage in rural areas.
The company is also focusing a bulk of its infrastructure investment into providing over a thousand 3G base stations to improve the broadband penetration across the country, with a particular focus on coverage of rural areas thereby bridging the digital divide.
MTN said it is also focusing on offering a high capacity, scalable, future-proof IP transmission network, connecting over 20% of its local base station sites; major enterprise customers; main switching centres in the major cities; and the three main commercial centres of the country connecting to the submarine cables on the east and west coast of South Africa.
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