According to MyBroadband.co.za, South Africa-based telecoms giant MTN Group passed the 150 million subscriber mark at end-April 2011, after adding around 7.4 million subscribers during the first four months of the year. Speaking at the group’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) earlier this week, CEO Sifiso Dabengwa indicated that margins in the majority of MTN’s key markets remained ‘robust’, admitting that the company experienced margin pressure in markets with high levels of price competition. However, Dabengwa admitted that the stronger rand meant that revenue only improved slightly during the period under discussion; a stronger rand is a negative for companies with overseas business units, as it eats into profits when earnings from abroad are transferred home. Further, Dabengwa warned that the company’s progress was negatively affected by political unrest in Cote d’Ivoire, and to a lesser extent, Yemen and Syria.
As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in May 2011 MTN announced that its consolidated subscriber base increased to 147.3 million as at 31 March 2010, up 4% from the 141.6 million reported at the end of December 2010. MTN has a presence in 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East.