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Tag: MTN

  • MTN’s half-year profit hits $6.5b

    MTN’s half-year profit hits $6.5b

    MTN Group’s first-half profit, rose by 22 per cent, exceeding estimates, after subscriber numbers increased in fast-growing markets, including Nigeria and Ghana.

    The Johannesburg-based company said in a statement yesterday, that sales advanced 9.8 per cent to $6.5 billion. So-called headline earnings per share, which exclude one-time items, were 6.54 rand for the six months through June, compared with 5.36 rand a year earlier, thus beating the 6.49 rand median profit estimate by four analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

    Total subscribers increased 6.5 per cent to 201.5 million, supported by 7.8 million net additions in Nigeria and further growth in smaller African markets, such as Sudan and Ivory Coast.

    However, South African customer numbers declined slightly after weak consumer spending and tough competition hampered the business in Africa’s largest economy.

    MTN plans to add 21.1 million subscribers in the full year, saying it would lower its cost base in South Africa in order to compete with aggressive rivals, Chief Financial Officer Brett Goschen told reporters at a press conference. Savings will probably come from a reduction in distribution and procurement costs, while the company is reviewing its headcount, he said.

  • MTN introduces social media data

    MTN Nigeria has introduced new affordable bundle plans for its social media loving subscribers, a statement from the telco has announced.

    The new social media bundle is tagged MTN GoodyBag Social and is aimed at providing yet another option for MTN subscribers to remain connected to their social media contacts.

    It is a bouquet of flexible and affordable Internet data plans that enable subscribers on the MTN network to access their favourite social media sites conveniently with a minimal monthly cost of N60 only. The bouquet covers four popular social media sites – Facebook, Twitter, Eskimi and 2go.

    MTN Nigeria Chief Marketing Officer, Larry Annetts, said: “We know how important social media has become to our subscribers in the last few years, and we have always tried to be there for our customers, empowering them to pursue what gives them pleasure and fulfillment. This is what we have done with MTN GoodyBag Social. We are providing cost-effective platforms for our customers to access the most popular social networking sites in Nigeria today,” he said.

  • MTN launches App Developer Challenge

    MTN launches App Developer Challenge

    MTN Nigeria has kicked off a competition for mobile applications (apps) developers.

    Christened MTN App Developer Challenge, it is targeted at the development of the relevant mobile applications relevant to the Nigerian market.

    Speaking at the launch of the initiative in Lagos, the Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Nigeria, Larry Annetts, said: “The MTN App Developer Challenge is a demonstration of our commitment to deliver a bold new digital world to our various stakeholders.

    “This initiative represents a tangible and credible platform to make our brand promise a reality as well as promote the growth and use of locally relevant content, which would help develop the Nigerian ecosystem via partnerships that are beneficial to the ecosystem at large.”

    He said mobile applications have become an essential feature for most mobile users, adding that a growing number of Nigerians now rely on their mobile phones as the preferred choice to stay in touch and be developments in society. He said this has made local Nigerian mobile content more relevant and important than ever before.

    According to the marketing chief, MTN, in fulfilment of its brand promise and commitment to enriching the lives of Nigerians, had partnered with neXva, a multi-OS app ecosystem solutions provider to launch a branded version of the App Store called MTN NextApps Store. He said there are 1330 Apps on MTN store, made up of 1213 Free Apps, and117 Premium Apps. He said the collection is growing with a large focus on Nigerian applications.

    General Manager Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria, Kola Oyeyemi, expressed optimism that the Challenge would produce results that are beneficial to the country, especially in the area of development of locally relevant applications that address the needs and aspirations of Nigerians.

  • MTN picks Nigerian as CEO

    MTN picks Nigerian as CEO

    Africa’s largest mobile operator, MTN Group yesterday named Michael Ikpoki, its Ghana Chief Executive to head its key Nigerian business, in a job reshuffle sparked by the abrupt resignation of its Chief Financial Officer.

    Nigeria is the second-biggest revenue earner for the Johannesburg-based MTN, which has operations in nearly two dozen countries in Africa and the Middle East.

    Harvard-trained Nigerian Ikpoki, according to Reuters, is replacing Brett Goschen, who took over as CFO, after Nazir Patel resigned this week following an investigation into allegations against him.

    MTN said the allegations against Patel were over governance and would not impact its financial results. It has not given any other details.

    The Chief Marketing Officer for MTN’s South Africa business, Serame Taukobong, will take over as Head of Ghana.

    MTN’s shares have dropped seven per cent since the announcement of Patel’s departure after close of trade on Monday.

  • Ikpoki named first Nigerian MTN CEO

    Ikpoki named first Nigerian MTN CEO

    Michael Ikpoki, currently the CEO of MTN Ghana has been named as the new Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria.
    Ikpoki replaces Brett Goschen, who took on the role of MTN Group Chief Financial Officer and Executive Financial Director on the Board on Monday.
    Ikpoki was appointed CEO of MTN Ghana in April 2011 after successfully running MTN Nigeria’s Sales and Distribution channel as its Executive from 2006.
    He joined MTN in 2001 as a Regulatory Advisor after a six-year stint with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s legal division.
    A seasoned business executive, Michael is well read, with an academic profile that includes General Management Programme at Harvard Business School; Sales, from INSEAD Business School; Finance and Analytics, from Lagos Business School and LLB from Rivers State University of Science and Technology.
    Other appointments announced by MTN Group today include Serame Taukobong, erstwhile Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of MTN SA, who is the new CEO of MTN Ghana. Brian Gouldie, Chief Customer Sales, Service and Distribution Officer at MTN SA, is the new CMO of MTN SA. Farhad Khan, Executive for the Group Enterprise Business Unit, takes over from Gouldie as Chief Customer Sales, Service and Distribution Officer at MTN SA. Philisiwe Sibiya, Executive in Group Finance, is the new Chief Financial Officer of MTN SA.
    “MTN has a strong leadership bench strength. As part of its talent management and leadership development, MTN invests significantly towards building a sustainable supply of quality leaders. We are therefore pleased to make these announcements drawn from our leadership succession pool,” said MTN Group President and CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa.
  • ‘Telecoms sector is in dire straits’

    ‘Telecoms sector is in dire straits’

    Lynda Saint-Nwafor is a Core Network Planning Engineer at MTN, where she has been helping to define MTN’s Technology Strategy and Roadmap, designing and planning all aspects of MTN’s network operations. In this interview with Bukola Afolabi, she speaks on development in the industry.

    Could you say that the industry has fully recovered from the issues of flooding and armed insurgent attacks on telecoms infrastructure?

    Not at all, the industry has not fully recovered. This is because it will take more than targeted interventions to make sure that floods don’t become an issue this year and also rebuild the entire infrastructure that we lost to the insurgency. Recovery is going to be a long process because as we speak there are more attacks on our infrastructure in the North, and in some of those places where the attacks have subsided, access is restricted because security agencies are still giving us a red flag. So, it’s going to take a while for the industry to get back to where it was pre-flood and insurgency.

    What is the level of repair work right now?

    We had over 220 sites impacted by the incessant attacks in the North and to date we have been able to restore services to about sixty percent of those sites. We monitor the improvement in security in those areas before we deploy our staff and contractors for restoration activities. But I must say that there are some areas we were not allowed to come back. The communities feel that the presence of telecoms infrastructure is a risk to them and so do not want anything to do with us, posing a big challenge to the restoration effort.

    Has old equipment anything to do with poor quality of service in Nigeria?

    No, but the reality is that just like everything else, every equipment has a useable lifespan. But even for those old equipment, software upgrades and feature updates are provided by the vendors such that it continues to deliver value. So whilst old equipment doesn’t directly have any impact on quality of service, they might be inadequate in meeting the evolving needs of the market which is why upgrades are critical and essential.

    What’s the average lifespan for telecoms equipment?

    I can tell you that there are networks elsewhere in the world still running on equipment installed as late as fifteen years ago. As long as routine maintenance is carried out as and when due, telecom equipment will still deliver value but the challenge is that same equipment might not be able to deliver new services that are required by some subscribers. For example, a mono service Base Station delivering only 2G services can operate for donkey years but unsuitable to deliver 3G services.

    What is responsible for the success recorded in the telecom industry in Nigeria compared to other African countries, despite our highly challenging business environment?

    Three things in my view have been responsible for the success we have recorded. Firstly, the vibrant regulatory environment. This is because without a predictable regulator, I am not sure we would have been able to achieve some of the successes we have achieved in the past eleven years. The second thing is the market. Nigeria is a country of over 160 million people in dire need of telecommunications services. The last but not the least is that we have operators with financial depth to make the right level of investments required to adequately penetrate the market.

    What’s your assessment of ongoing efforts to protect telecom infrastructure, particularly the critical Information and Communications Technology infrastructure bill?

    I believe it’s a step in the right direction. Telecommunications is not a luxurious service; it’s an essential service with substantial impact on the economy. I believe that the current efforts being driven by the Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobolanle Johnson, are commendable. They are long overdue. It will be a welcome development to see the bill passed.

    What has your experience been, working in a field dominated by men?

    Well, I have had a wonderful and extremely rewarding experience. This is because of the immense opportunity to enrich the lives of millions of Nigerians in a very challenging but thriving environment. It is indeed a humbling experience for me. Professionally, I don’t see myself as a woman, because that for me is creating a barrier. And once barriers are created, it’s only the mind that can extricate them. Essentially, I see myself as a professional who is here to deliver value. Having said that, it is quite an arduous task to be a successful professional, a successful mother and a successful wife. For that to happen, one has to have a fantastic support structure and that I have in my dear husband who is ever willing to offer his support. I also have a wonderful family that is always there and most importantly, I have a wonderful team – a breed of young professionals who are 99.9 percent Nigerians and are the best of the breed that this country can offer. Our team has been able to do things that were hitherto unimaginable and I am very grateful. I am extremely blessed to be where I am today. The grace of God has also been sufficient and His mercy never ends.

    Broadband penetration has remained poor. What is MTN doing to improve the situation?

    MTN is the first network in Nigeria to deploy data services everywhere we have a footprint. However, we are always looking for opportunities to improve the services that we deliver. We therefore have plans to deploy circa 3,000 3G base stations this year in addition to the ones in existence. We are upgrading our transmission backhaul infrastructure, modernising it from the traditional TDM to IP which delivers fast data services. On the core network, we have completed the upgrade to Evolved Packet Core which supports delivery of next generation data services and is also access agnostic.

    When do you estimate that 4G/LTE will fly in Nigeria?

    The regulator has given an indication of 2015 for the auction of 4G spectrum licences. By and large, if the spectrum is auctioned by then, we would see LTE services in Nigeria in 2016. It would probably take between six months and a year to deploy capacity across the country. However, there is an indication that some spectrum in the 800MHz band has been licensed to a new operator, which means there will be LTE services once the new operator is able to roll out the network. For us in MTN, preparing the network for LTE is one of the core objectives of the modernization project and we are ready on many fronts to deliver LTE services.

    How much has MTN invested in network infrastructure so far? Are we going to witness more investment in the network in the years ahead?

    MTN has invested over ten billion dollars in network infrastructure in Nigeria and that explains our Market leadership and our very extensive fibre infrastructure, the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Last year alone, we invested over 1.6 billion dollars and this year we are not relenting. We are investing even much more. We are not shy to make these investments as we still see value and potential in this market. We believe in the Nigerian market and will continue to make the necessary investments where and when required.

  • MTN donates digital libraries

    MTN donates digital libraries

    MTN has ended this year’s edition of its yearly staff volunteerism programme, 21 Days of Y’ello Care, which focused on education by donating digital libraries.

    The programme, initiated by the MTN Group in 2007, encourages MTN staff in all its 21 operating countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to volunteer their resources, time and skills to assist others and the communities where they live and work.

    During the programme, workers of the telco engaged in a number of activities with the aim of entrenching the reading culture among children. It adopted the theme “Investing in Education for All”, which aligns with a major goal of helping to improve one of the important parameters by which real development can be judged.

    Chief Executive Ofiicer (CEO) MTN, Brett Goschen said, “The theme for this year: Investing in Education for All, is in consonance with the global movement to make education accessible and compulsory for all and sundry across the world.

    “Twelve digital libraries were set up in primary and secondary schools across the six geo-political zones in Nigeria. Teaching activities were conducted in eighty-one schools. Teacher empowerment seminars were held in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, while thousands of books and other educational materials were distributed in schools across the country.”

  • MTN set to take fibre to homes

    MTN said it will take fibre to homes in a move to redefine service delivery to its customers.

    To achieve this, the firm disclosed that it has concluded arrangements to deliver broadband Internet via its high-speed fibre network to Victoria Garden City, Ajah, Lagos.

    According to the Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, MTN, Babatunde Osho, the roll-out will ensure that residents enjoy speeds as high as 10 megbytes per second (Mbps).

    He said: “That is more than four times the current speeds. This is the way to go because broadband has become a necessity for business and in our personal lives. To meet this growing need, MTN Business has been in the business of delivering broadband internet service to estates, enabling residents access to internet-ready homes. These estates include Dolphin Estate, Crown Estate, Mayfair Garden and Victoria Garden City.”

    Osho said the proliferation of internet-ready devices and interest in social media is driving more and more content to the web which increases the time spent on the web. “And the better the broadband experience, the more we want to go online. To take this service up a notch and deliver even greater value to its residential customer base, MTN Business is in talks with VGC Estate management to explore the delivery of broadband Internet via its high-speed fibre network,” he added.

  • Six years of boosting talents the MTN Project Fame way

    Six years of boosting talents the MTN Project Fame way

    PROMOTERS of the annual MTN music talent show, Project Fame, have prided themselves with what they call a total music training and experience for the contestants. They make it clear that some of the contestants who have not been lucky enough to clinch the coveted prizes are no less important, less-schooled or less-experienced as the overall winners. In six years that the show has showcased young music talents, testimonies abound of the musical exploits of the icons created by the reality show. Apart from bringing entertainment value to music lovers who look forward to the show yearly, several youths who could have died with their talents found a platform to express themselves and for some others, a rare opportunity of hitting stardom.

    There is no doubt that with the training mechanisms put in place by the Academy, raw talents that were discovered during auditions have been nurtured and transformed to superstars. It would therefore be safe to say that the all-round grooming in this ‘star-making’ mill has contributed to the overall growth of the Nigerian music industry. It would also be safe to say that the winners of this competition are worthy of the judgement of the judges and voting public.

    It would be recalled that Iyanya Mbuk, who was the winner of the maiden edition of the reality show, has become an all-time favourite of most music lovers all over Nigeria and beyond. His hit song ‘Kukere’ alongside the alluring and somewhat sensuous ‘Etighi’ dance step have literally become a staple, not only on the airwaves but also at most sizzling parties and concerts at home and abroad. Apart from winning the coveted Year 2013 Headies Award for Best Pop Single, Iyanya has also taken his brand of music on tour of the U.S.A. and the United Kingdom.

    In 2012, Myke, who emerged the winner in the Project’s second season, took home the Sound City Music Video Award on the creative strength of his hit track titled ‘Fine Fine Lady’, which was shot in part fulfilment of his contract for winning.

    By December of 2012,Chidinma made history with her soar-away hit track ‘Kedike’ as she lifted the KORA Award for the best female act (West Africa).

    Outside of these three winners of past editions of Project Fame, some of the contestants who also bear the MTN’s imprint of stardom are Praiz, one of the runners-up in the 4thSeason, who is gradually but consistently singing his way to acclaim. Two of the contestants from Ghana, Nii and Kesse, have also been holding their own, musically. To be sure, at the 2012 Ghana Music Award, Kesse emerged the Best Male Vocalist, while he earned nominations in four categories to boot.

    By all means, MTN Project Fame West Africa, with five seasons behind it and the 6th upon us, continues to wax even stronger as evinced in its consistent yet onerous task of seeking out, from the shadows and bringing into the glittering world of glamour and fame, a growing league of some of Nigeria’s most resourceful musical talents.

    Experts say the musical reality TV show has been an added advantage to the over 70% of the nation’s total population of 170 million people who are youths. This percentage refers to those within the age bracket of 18-35, which represents the active labour force. More than 50% of this population, however, is unemployed.

    Today, Nigerian youths are nearly bereft of any tangible focus that can direct them towards contributing their own quota to the national cause. In fact, they have become quite synonymous with going up in arms against their national leaders and threatening to halt the machinery of national progress in the name of militancy, cultism and tribal debates, on many occasions. Perhaps so shameful are the instances when the youths become the instruments of political antagonism, religious unrest and election violence.

    Whatever the causes of this sheer manipulation of the exuberance in our youths, it is a waste of divine deposits. By extension, it is a misapplication of human agility. Where the youths are considered the greatest national treasure, it is a waste of the huge intellectual investment in these ‘leaders of tomorrow’.

    Government, in the real sense, does not provide jobs. It has the sole responsibility of providing infrastructure, a conducive atmosphere for industries to thrive, making legislation that serves the populace right and formulating policies that can aid local and foreign investment. The government got it right when it decided to allow private participation in the telecommunications sector in 2001. One of the advantages that telecommunications operators have added to the economy has been the opening of a new vista in youth empowerment through sponsorship of various musical reality shows like the MTN Project Fame.

  • MTN Project Fame auditions kickoff in Benin

    MTN Project Fame auditions kickoff in Benin

    IN an ambiance of funfair and excitement, the audition venue of sixth season of the MTN Project Fame West Africa was held in Benin last weekend with over 20,000 youths converging at the Constantial Hotel, directly located opposite Benin Airport, in Benin City. In the first audition to be held in Nigeria for this year’s edition of the popular sub-region musical reality TV show, the youths commented that they have turned out that much because of the proven record of MTN Project Fame for producing music super stars.

    Female Sociology undergraduate from the University of Benin, Augusta Ukwah, who came in the company of her friends to be auditioned says; “no doubt the MTN Project Fame holds a wider appeal to youths here, having seen hitherto little known young Nigerians like Iyanya, Chidimma and Praize take advantage of the platform, through the technical supports of the music reality show’s faculty members and judges, to achieve their dreams of becoming music stars.”

    Also, members of the Red Cross Society, Ugbowo Detachment of the University Of Benin, seized the moment at the audition venue, when they created an unusual buzz of drumming and singing to the delight of the thousands of participants attending the audition. Though they were just passing by on an endurance trek, they chose to identify with the project.

    The MTN Project Fame West Africa is a musical reality TV show. Having produced not less than 10 musicians who have become household names in different West African countries, under a decade, the show is known to attract an overwhelming audience who are prepped for the show’s All Stars Concert, featuring Iyanya and Wizkid, holding in Calabar and Lagos on June 21 and 28 respectively.