African telecoms giant, MTN Group says 203.8 million people from 22 countries are now connected to its network. This represents a 4.12 percent increase from 195.4 million subscribers it announced earlier in April.
An official release of its 3rd quarter results indicated that subscriber growth was slowed by price competition and registration regulations.
“The third quarter has been characterised by lower than anticipated subscriber growth following ongoing price competition and subscriber registration requirements across a number of markets, ” MTN Group President and CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa said.
“Subscriber growth was limited to 1,1% quarter on quarter (QoQ) mainly impacted by disconnections in Nigeria related to registration requirements, slower than expected subscriber growth in South Africa, as well as slower subscriber growth in Iran.”
However, significant customer growth witnessed in emerging markets such as Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Uganda and Syria – despite its crisis-ridden environment – coupled with a sustained market share in Nigeria and South Africa helped push overall growth.
“During the quarter the Group continued to focus on segmented competitive voice and data tariffs and improving network quality to cater for increased traffic,” he added.
The group’s data revenue and mobile money businesses also witnessed positive growth with a 10.7 percent jump to hit 13.4 million registered subscribers.
“Data and mobile money remain a key focus for the Group with traditional voice revenue under pressure. Data revenue for the Group increased by 34,7% year on year (YoY), contributing 14,1% to total revenue while mobile money subscribers increased 10,7% QoQ to 13,4 million across 13 operations.”
