MTN squeezes more money from fewer customers in SA
Subscriber numbers in SA fell in the September quarter, but rose in Nigeria
MTN managed to offset a decline in its South African subscriber numbers with growth from Nigeria in the September quarter.
The cellphone network reported its total subscribers were 225.4-million at the end of September, 1% higher than in the June quarter, but down 2% from the September quarter of 2017.
In its home market, MTN reported a 2.3% decline in subscriber numbers to 29.5-million in September from 30.2-million in June, and a 4.6% annual decline in subscriber numbers.
MTN’s South African prepaid customers declined by 824,000 over the quarter, which it failed to offset by adding only 120,000 postpaid or contract users, its quarterly update released on Monday morning showed.
Although the cellphone network had fewer South African customers, its remaining customers used their phones more.
Its average revenue per user (arpu) from postpaid customers averaged R142.78 a month during the September quarter, up from R140.23 in the June quarter but lower than R149.70 a month averaged in the September quarter of 2017.
Prepaid users averaged R77.52 a month in the September quarter, up from R74.64 in the June quarter and R75.87 in the third quarter of 2017.
“MTN recorded an improved operational performance in many markets in the third quarter,” CEO Rob Shuter said in Monday’s statement.
“The group benefited from the particularly strong performance of operations in Nigeria and Ghana, while some operations in our West and Central Africa region remained under pressure. MTN SA continues to execute on operational improvements.”
In Nigeria, MTN grew its subscribers to 56-million at the end of September from 55-million at the end of June.