The biggest mobile phone operator in Africa, the MTN Group is now back in black after a very troublesome in 2016 and a decline of 14.3 percent to 53.1 million in Nigeria, its biggest market with at least a quarter of its 240 million subscribers in six months. This follows a review of subscriber definitions and a decrease in gross connections as a result of new regulations that require all subscriber connections take place in permanent structures.
MTN said on Thursday in Johannesburg that its earnings for first-half of the year had rebounded. It said that its headline earnings came in at 3.9 billion rand ($294.40 million), or 212 cents per share, in the six months to end June compared with a loss of 4.9 billion rand, or 271 cents per share, a year earlier.
“These numbers give us hope for the future. It is a very encouraging platform upon which to build our strategy,” said Rob Shuter, former Vodafone European head, who became chief executive in March.
MTN’s shares were nearly 3 per cent higher at early trading due to the positive results. The results were bolstered by the absence of charges related to a $1.1 billion fine imposed by Nigerian authorities last year in a long-running dispute over unregistered SIM cards.
Founded at the end of white rule in 1994, MTN’s clashes with regulators in the past few years had held back growth and threatened to tarnish its image as one of post-apartheid South Africa’s biggest commercial successes.
Shuter’s appointment is expected to put the company back on a growth path with a shift away from basic telecoms services toward the ability of its users to pay bills or watch live football matches on their phones.
