MTN ties up sale of Guinea-Conakry business

MTN has concluded its deal to exit its business in Guinea-Conakry. 

Africa’s largest mobile operator has been working to exit three of its smaller operations in West Africa — MTN Guinea-Bissau, MTN Guinea-Conakry and MTN Liberia — for more than a year. 

In August, the group finalised the exit of Guinea-Bissau business after receiving the necessary approvals from authorities.

On Tuesday, the cellphone provider announced it had sold MTN Guinea-Conakry to the State of Guinea, a deal signed on December 30. 

MTN group CEO Ralph Mupita said: “This milestone marks a new phase for MTN Guinea-Conakry under local ownership. We thank the staff, customers, regulators, and broader stakeholders in Guinea for their support during our time in the country.

“Concluding this transaction is in line with our strategy to simplify our portfolio and allocate capital to markets where we can make a meaningful impact, ensuring long-term growth and returns.”

In the September quarter the Guinea-Conakry unit had just more than 3-million customers, making R254m in revenue out of a combined R44.7bn in the period, reflecting the operation’s relatively small size. 

MTN, which had developed a reputation for conquering emerging-market countries that few dared touch, has also been exiting its businesses in the Middle East — including Syria, Yemen and Iran — as part of a five-year slim-down plan unveiled in 2019 to reduce risk, sell noncore assets such as towers and masts, and raise about R25bn.

The Yemen and Syria businesses were sold in 2021. Only Iran remains in the group’s Middle East portfolio after it sold its Afghanistan shareholding to Investcom, an affiliate company of Singaporean telecom company M1 in February 2024.

gavazam@businesslive.co.za