MTN boosts subscriber numbers
MTN Group lifted its subscriber base to 182.7 million in a quarterly update for the period ended September 2012, while its South African subscriber base improved 4.1% quarter on quarter to 24.498 million, and from 20.968 million in Q3, 2011.
MTN South Africa’s continued momentum is mainly attributable to a strong performance in the pre-paid segment, which maintained market share and increased subscribers by 4.2%, it said.
MTN Group President and CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa said: “MTN delivered a satisfactory set of results for the quarter ended 30 September 2012, increasing subscriber numbers by 3.8% to 182.7 million.
“The group’s performance was underpinned by solid operational management and the rollout of appealing value propositions despite aggressive pricing competition, regulations and economic challenges across the different markets in which the group operates. This solid operational performance over the past quarter has enabled MTN to increase guidance for net additions for 2012 from 21.25 million to 23.70 million,” he said.
“MTN has continued to implement on its strategic pillars of improving shareholder returns, developing existing and new revenue streams, optimising costs and improving customer experience. Most relevant during the quarter was the execution of competitive products and services in response to aggressive price declines in the market, a continued focus on data growth and improved network rollout,” Dabengwa said.
Sifiso Dabengwa
Looking forward to the balance of the year, the group head said that acceleration of its network expansion will be a key priority across the majority of its operations as network quality remains a key enabler for the business.
In South Africa, the post-paid segment grew its subscriber base by 3.6% for the quarter increasing its market share marginally.
According to MTN, post-paid growth continues to be driven by hybrid offerings, which contributed 44% to the post-paid subscriber base. “Data delivered a satisfactory performance despite strong competition which has seen tariffs come down across the market. Local currency blended ARPU remained stable at R121.25.
“Prepaid ARPU showed an upward trend as minutes of use improved from lower tariffs and positive elasticity while postpaid ARPU continued to decline due to lower ‘out of bundle’ spend and a high volume of telemetry SIMS,” it said.
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