Frequent internet shut down and competition affected the Africa's telecoms giant in Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
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MTN Group recorded an improved financial report for the first half of 2018.
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The financial perfomance was led by Nigeria, Ghana and South African markets.
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Frequent internet shut down and stiff competition affected MTN market in Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
African telecommunication giant, MTN Group, has recorded an improved financial report for the first half of 2018 led by growth in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
MTN Group made this known in its half-year financial statement released on Wednesday, August 8, 2018.
The Group said growth in service revenue accelerated, margins on earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased while voice, data and digital revenue continued to expand.
The growth in the period under review was largely from the second quarter review of its EBITDA in Nigeria (up by 38.6%), Ghana (13.6%) and South Africa (8.6%).
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Rob Shuter, MTN Group president and CEO, said, “MTN had an encouraging first half of 2018, with an acceleration in the second quarter, supported by an improved operational performance across many markets. This was led by Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. Service revenue growth increased, driven by robust voice revenue growth and the continued expansion of data and digital revenue.”
Here's how the MTN group performed across African markets in the 6 months:
MTN Nigeria
MTN Nigeria performed ahead of expectations, with double-digit growth in voice revenue driving accelerated service revenue growth and the further widening of the EBITDA margin.
Some of the highlights below:
- Increased usage and growth in data subscribers supported data revenue growth.
- Digital revenue declined as a result of further optimisation of VAS business.
- The subscriber base expanded by 5.6% from December 2017 to 55.2 million.
MTN Ghana
MTN Group said it has a strong performance in the first half due to buoyant Ghana economy. Highlights of the report include:
- Growth in voice, data and digital revenue drove a 27.9% increase in service revenue and widening in the EBITDA margin to 39.2%.
- Subscribers grew by 5.5% from December 2017 to 16.5 million.
- Active data subscribers increased by 6.1% in the same period to 6.9 million and a 6.7% increase in data revenue.
MTN South Africa
- Subscriber base increased by 2.2% from December 2017 to 30.2 million
- Service revenue increased by 2.9%
- Data revenue increased by 13.5%
- Digital revenue increased by 17.9%
- EBITDA grew 5.7% to R7 450 million
MTN Uganda
- Service revenue up by 8.8%
- Increase in digital revenue by 19.7%
- Data revenue increased by 13.6%
MTN Cameroon
- Subscriber base declined by 5.9% from December 2017 to 6.6 million largely due to frequent data shut down by the government and weak economic activity.
- Service revenue decreased by 7.0%
MTN Ivory Coast
- Service revenue declined by 6.6% on weaker voice revenue
- Data revenue expand by 15.4%
- The subscriber base grew by 3.1% from December 2017 to 11.3 million.