MTN Group to prioritize operations in Ghana, Uganda and Cameroon to maintain growth

As competition for telecom services intensifies in Africa, the MTN Group is making moves to consolidate its growth by prioritizing countries where they have considerable growth in a bid to maintain its gains in those countries. Thus, the company is making moves to enhance its operations in Ghana, Uganda, and Cameroon to maintain robust growth in these countries.

Prioritizing the aforementioned markets, MTN Group will also concentrate on efforts to enhance performance in Rwanda, Zambia, and Côte d’Ivoire.

The largest telecom company in Africa reported 20.8% less group service revenue, 41.2% less profits before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) (before one-time items), and an 11.6 percentage point loss in EBITDA margin to 32.0% in the company’s half-year results. Furthermore, headline earnings per share dropped by 198.5% to -256 cents, while basic earnings per share fell by 278, 6% to -409 cents.

The financial performance is declining at the same time as Nigeria, MTN’s primary market, is still dealing with several problems, including exchange rate instability.

The president and CEO of MTN Group, Ralph Mupita, issued a note of caution, saying that the firm is still steadfast despite the macroeconomic and geopolitical factors that are now influencing the telco’s trade environment and operations.

He explained: “We are working to accelerate expense efficiencies to help manage the prevailing macro headwinds, in terms of which we continue to target $450 million (R8 billion) in cost savings over the next three years.”

“This is also driving the ongoing evolution in customer behaviour to optimise consumption of bundles. Notwithstanding, we will continue the work to accelerate top line and deliver a healthy EBITDA, PAT (profit after cash) and cash flow profile.”

“MTN Nigeria will press ahead with the initiatives outlined to restore its profitability and balance sheet profile, particularly in resolving its negative equity position. Tariff increases remain critical to the recovery and sustainability of the industry in Nigeria and sector engagements with the relevant authorities are ongoing,” Ralph Mupita added.

Regarding the future, the MTN Group president and CEO, Ralph Mupita stated that; “In our markets portfolio, the priority is to sustain the strong growth in markets like Ghana, Uganda and Cameroon; while implementing the necessary initiatives to turn around the performances in Côted’Ivoire, Rwanda and Zambia.”

MTN Group declaring these countries a priority means that a lot of investment will go into operations there which should be good news for consumers, as innovative solutions aimed at delivering quality service to attract more people to the network in those countries will be undertaken.