MTN dips on customer losses
But revenue up 7.1% in line with acceleration forecast
MTN’s share price fell 2.51% on Wednesday to close at R123.62 after the group reported a drop in subscriber numbers for the first quarter of 2017. The group said its total subscriber base shrank 1.5% to 237-million because of the restatement to subscriber numbers in Ghana, Rwanda as well as in Zambia. But revenue rose 7.1% in line with expectations of an acceleration to high single digits compared with low single digits during 2016’s matching period, said Mergence Investments portfolio manager Peter Takaendesa. "There was no material impact on revenue growth so the subscriber ‘restatements’ must have been mostly low revenue customers," he said. MTN Ghana’s customers declined by 2.5-million to 16.7-million as a result of the review of subscriber definitions, while in Zambia, it was down 5.1% to 5.5-million during the period. MTN Nigeria’s customer base was down 2.3% to 60.5-million because of new regulations that require all subscriber connections and registrations to take place in p...
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