South African telecoms operator MTN Group said revenue grew by nearly 6 percent in the first four months of the year, as it added more subscribers particularly in its key Nigerian market.<\/p>\n
The mobile company, which has operations in 22 countries, also said on Tuesday it expected to have 200 million users by the middle of 2013, after increasing users by 4 percent to 197.4 million in the January-April period.<\/p>\n
“MTN Nigeria recorded strong growth in reported revenue for the first four months … supported by strong growth in subscriber numbers and usage,” MTN said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Nigerian revenue was boosted by a favourable rand exchange rate against the dollar, it said.<\/p>\n
The South African unit continued to struggle against increased competition from market leader Vodacom and smaller unlisted rival Cell C, but data revenue underpinned earnings, MTN said.<\/p>\n
MTN shares extended losses after the announcement, and were down 0.47 percent to 181.14 rand at 1249GMT.<\/p>\n
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