MTN tops 23m subscribers

MTN said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) came in at R11,2bn for the nine-month period, compared with R12bn for the year to end-March 2005.

Subscriber growth from current operations – South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Rwanda and Swaziland – came in at 36%.
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Laughable. Flat earnings, growth of 36% in subscribers?! What is wrong with this equation? (everybody owns handsets - but nobody makes any calls - unless they really have to.)
 
kilo39 said:
Laughable. Flat earnings, growth of 36% in subscribers?! What is wrong with this equation? (everybody owns handsets - but nobody makes any calls - unless they really have to.)
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Except Government and Big Business.
I hardly ever use my phone.
But during the day I have to contact certain suppliers that are on the road, so I am forced to succumb to Vodacom's heavy duty pricing.

All my staff have Cell Phones, but they can ill afford to use them?

The Cell Phone Business is a real racket.
And there doesn't appear to be any real change on the horizon?
Number Portability might help, but IBIWISI.
 
The problem is these guys concept of business - they have zero concept that cheaper rates = more calls = more earnings.
 
BTTB said:
Except Government and Big Business.
I hardly ever use my phone.
But during the day I have to contact certain suppliers that are on the road, so I am forced to succumb to Vodacom's heavy duty pricing.

All my staff have Cell Phones, but they can ill afford to use them?

The Cell Phone Business is a real racket.
And there doesn't appear to be any real change on the horizon?
Number Portability might help, but IBIWISI.
Click to expand...

Hence the reluctance of the telecos to accept ICASA meddling with the interconnect charges, most of those calls you make to your staff are from a landline, at least they are with me.

Telecos on the Up and UP.
Less than 50% of the subscribers (SA) contributing almost 60% of their revenue.
Public subjected to abnormal costs in order to subsidise these teleco companies growth and expansion into the lucrative African market as a whole, this is not necessarily a bad thing, but its bloody high time we (as the SA public) got something back in return for this.
 
And MTN wants to take ICASA to court for declaring it a major operator?! :confused:
 
Yeah right, they have 23 million subscribers :/

I have a hard time believing that claim...

Vodacom is even bigger,so what nr do they have?
 
supersunbird said:
Yeah right, they have 23 million subscribers :/

I have a hard time believing that claim...

Vodacom is even bigger,so what nr do they have?
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remember, that's in the whole of africa, in SA voda defenetly has more subscribers
 
How many of those 23 million are simcards rotting in some desk drawer somewhere? I personally have 6 MTN simcards allowing me to use up to 6x 10 MB bundles per month. All this because of their stupid no-carryover policy.
 
was about to point out the same thing, most reports like this are based on sales of sim cards which is incorrect since phones get stolen(thanks voda + mtn for making a market for this initially by not enabling/using EIR properly) and people with multiple sim cards. besides the lost/broken ones.
 
Yeah, Vodacom and MTN together have more subscribers than SA has people...

I have (had) two or three Vodacom prepaid cards - daughter keeps forgetting PIN etc, an MTN card - phone long broken, and two Cell C cards - never been used.

So, I have 5 or 6 cards. Then GF has a few as well. All this talk is BSBB.
 
Many subscribers must have cell phone bills of minimum R20 000+ per year? No wonder we've had rampant inflation, excessive pricing across the board and a generally anti-competitive atmosphere - these telcos are doing more harm than good.
 
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Geesh...some of you people have got your facts seriously twisted. Vodacom releases their number of users based on how many numbers they have issued since day one. It doesn't matter to them if 50% of those MSISDNs are not being used anymore...they consider it a head-count.

MTN bases it's numbers on CURRENTLY ACTIVE SUBSCRIBERS.

So in actual fact, yes, MTN's numbers are lower than Vodacom's but at least their figures are accurate as to how many people are CURRENTLY subscribed to them.

I'm not an MTN Mascott or anything, but geesh guys, you really need to get your facts straight sometimes before just ranting on about something.
 
nGAGEd55 said:
remember, that's in the whole of africa, in SA voda defenetly has more subscribers
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FYI, MTN qualifies a subscriber in the subscriber count as an MSISDN # that has made a chargeable call in 90 days. This is a more correct way of determining the subscriber count in a Network as opposed to VC counting subs as any and all SIMS that have been sold (not quarantined or scrapped).
Yes we do have more subscribers in the MTN Group due to our foreign operations and that number is set to increase year on year
 
ajax said:
How many of those 23 million are simcards rotting in some desk drawer somewhere? I personally have 6 MTN simcards allowing me to use up to 6x 10 MB bundles per month. All this because of their stupid no-carryover policy.
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You have six sim cards yes, but they are not rotting away - you have a recurring R10 data bundle and we are deriving income from that usage.
Again, MTN adds an MSISDN # to the subscriber count only if there has been activity on the MSISDN in the 90 days prior to the count.
This number is audited as well btw.
 
supersunbird said:
Yeah right, they have 23 million subscribers :/

I have a hard time believing that claim...

Vodacom is even bigger,so what nr do they have?
Click to expand...
These people classify an 'active subscriber' as someone who has done something on their number in the past 6 months (last i read).. quite a stretch.
 
MaD said:
These people classify an 'active subscriber' as someone who has done something on their number in the past 6 months (last i read).. quite a stretch.
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MTNer said:
FYI, MTN qualifies a subscriber in the subscriber count as an MSISDN # that has made a chargeable call in 90 days.
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MTNer said:
You have six sim cards yes, but they are not rotting away - you have a recurring R10 data bundle and we are deriving income from that usage.
Again, MTN adds an MSISDN # to the subscriber count only if there has been activity on the MSISDN in the 90 days prior to the count.
This number is audited as well btw.
Click to expand...

The methodology seems fine if this is correct.
 
MaD said:
These people classify an 'active subscriber' as someone who has done something on their number in the past 6 months (last i read).. quite a stretch.
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These people being VC or MTN? As noted MTN classification of an active user is an MSISDN # that has made a chargeable call in 90 days i.e. 3 months - not quiet a stretch that.
 
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