Africa’s biggest mobile network operator MTN Group announced positive financial results in the third quarter ended 30 September despite negative tough economic challenges, on-going load shedding and unstable market environments.
The group on its success credits its, “improved network availability helps MTN South Africa deliver solid growth in Q3”.
MTN Group operates in 19 markets across Africa and the Middle East, providing voice, data, fintech, digital, enterprise, wholesale and application programming interface services.
“Power outages in SA continued to be a challenge,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita in the earnings release for the Group, which operates in 19 markets.
“However, the significant progress made in our network resilience programme – which is tracking slightly ahead of plan – combined with lower loadshedding in Q3 (compared to H1), supported average network availability of above 95%.”
In a tough macro, MTN SA’s service revenue grew by 4.1% year-on-year in Q3 to R31 billion, accelerating from growth of 2.5% in Q2 and 1.3% in Q1.
“We are pleased with the further sequential improvement in momentum in Q3, the result of our efforts to provide the best customer experience as well as a network that is second to none,” said MTN SA CEO Charles Molapisi, referring to extensive network site upgrades, which included installing new, more powerful batteries, renewable energy and generators as well as increased site security.
MTN Group President and CEO is upbeat with the company’s progress: “Overall, MTN SA is tracking well to return service revenue growth and EBITDA margin to medium-term guidance ranges. We expect this to underpin MTN SA’s attractive cash flow generation profile over the medium term, guided by our disciplined capital allocation framework.”
