MTN nears 35 mln subscribers after Investcom takeover
South Africa-based operator MTN Group has reported 34.768 million subscribers at the end of September, up 37 percent from June following its takeover of rival Investcom. Excluding Investcom, MTN increased its subscriber base 8 percent over the quarter to 27.384 million, while Investcom alone posted 20 percent growth to 7.384 million customers. Growth was driven by MTN’s South Africa operations, which increased customer numbers 7 percent to 11.16 million. In West and Central Africa, Nigeria and to a lesser extent Ghana contributed to the increase. Nigeria posted a 8 percent increase to 10.375 million, and Ghana increased its base 21 percent to 2.436 million. The Middle East and North East Africa region recorded subscriber growth of 17 percent for the quarter, mainly due to continued strong growth in Syria (20% to 2.1 million) and Uganda (14% to 1.4 million). The recent start-up in Afghanistan exceeded expectations and achieved net additions of 99,000 in the quarter. MTN expects the merger with Investcom to lead in 2007 to operatinal savings of USD 80-100 million and reductions in capital expenditure of at least USD 100 million. Limited savings have already been acheived this year.Among other markets, subscribers in Cameroon were up 9 percent to 1.66 million, Uganda rose 14 percent to 1.4 million, Cote d’Ivoire increased 13 percent to 1.26 million, Yemen was up 1 percent to 1.03 million, Sudan increased 30 percent to 771,000, the Mascom unit in Botswana rose 5 percent to 557,000, Benin was up 20 percent to 415,000, Rwanda rose 10 percent to 341,000, Swaziland was up 8 percent to 255,000, Congo- Brazaville gained 9 percent to 250,000, Guinea Conakry grew 75 percent to 201,000, Liberia was up 21 percent to 186,000, Zambia increased 5 percent to 125,000, Guinea Bissau rose 4 percent to 79,000 and the only European country, Levantine Cyprus, was down 10 percent to 70,000. In addition to providing subscriber figures, MTN gives ARPU figres for each subsidiary. South African ARPU rose to ZAR 162 in the third quarter from ZAR 159 in the second. Elsewhere, third quarter ARPU ranges from USD 11 in Yemen to USD 32 in Cyprus, with the next highest being Syria at USD 25. In Nigeria, ARPU was USD 18. The ARPU figure is an average for the time since the July acquisition of Investcom.
Source- telecompaper Wireless Mobile Telecom
MTN confident of growth in EAfrica
The MTN Group, which has been operating in Rwanda and Uganda for the past eight years, is positive about growth prospects in the two countries and is impressed by the enabling business environment which had secured the company more than 1.5 million combined subscribers as at 30 June 2006.
non-executive director of the MTN Group operations in the Middle East, North and East Africa (MENEA), Rhidwaan Gasant, says although mobile penetration has grown considerably since the launch of MTN in both countries (3% in Rwanda as at 31 December 2005) and 6% in Uganda as at 31 December 2005), there are still growth opportunities for MTN in the two countries.
Addressing investors at meetings hosted by the Presidents of Rwanda and Uganda at the annual African Business Leaders’ Forum held in Johannesburg, Gasant said MTN had experienced an investor friendly environment in both countries. This resulted in MTN being able to contribute to infrastructure as well as social and economic development.
“Political stability, a stable exchange rate and a pragmatic and stable regulation of the industry through accessibility and dialogue are some of the building blocks that have secured our success,” says Gasant.
Both MTN Rwanda and MTN Uganda, are the largest taxpayers in those countries. MTN has invested US$180m in Uganda to date and in 2005 alone MTN Rwanda invested US$13m in capital expenditure.
Both operations have focused corporate social responsibility programmes including support for initiatives in health, education, environmental conservation and culture. In addition, MTN Uganda’s villagePhone and MTN Rwanda’s Tuvugane initiatives provide access to mobile telephony to rural communities and supports entrepreneurs in rural areas who rely on micro- financing assistance from locally-based lenders to purchase the payphones and sell airtime units to the local communities.
In a demonstration of its commitment to Uganda, MTN recently increased its shareholding in MTN Uganda from 51% to 97%, making the operation a fully
consolidated subsidiary of the MTN Group.
Inviting other investors to Uganda, the Executive Director of the Uganda Investment Authority, Dr Margie Kigozi, cited MTN as one of the model investors in the country and said information communication technology, including mobile telephony, was one of Uganda’s priority sectors.
Earlier this year, in recognition of MTN’s contribution to the development of the communication sector, President Yoweri Museveni awarded MTN Uganda the 2006 Presidential Transformation Award at a special ceremony to recognise companies and individuals who have led the country through economic, social and cultural transformation.
In addition, MTN Uganda was awarded a Government tender to provide infrastructure for universal service in the eastern and western regions of the country. These initiatives will see Internet access in some of the most rural areas of Uganda, hence bridging the digital divide.
Says Gasant: “Operating in conducive business environments has effectively contributed to the growth of our interests in Eastern Africa and our confidence is reflected in our investments and progress there.”
Source- http://www.mybroadband.co.za
Mobiles ‘to help track diseases’
Mobile phone technology is being developed to help manage the spread of diseases such as HIV and bird flu. The BBC reports.
“The software is designed to allow field workers using handsets to send and receive data on disease outbreaks along with patient and drug information.
The project is a collaboration between technology firm Voxiva and the trade association for mobile operators, GSMA.
Trials of the relatively low-cost application are underway in Rwanda, Africa and in Indonesia.
…This means a doctor working in the field can send information to a central database about how many people are affected by a disease, patient status, drug inventory levels and receive information such as alerts, treatment guidelines or lab test results.
Source- http://www.textually.org
Zimbabwe, Botswana sign Eassy undersea cable protocol
Zimbabwe and Botsawana have signed the East African Submarine System (Eassy), taking the total number of signatories to nine our of 23 countries that originally agreed to implement the project in 2003. ITWeb reports that Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, Zambia and Malawi, all of which were expected to sign up, did not do so. The current signatories include South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Lesotho, Madagascar and Malawi, which signed the protocol in late August. There is a deadline of 30 November to sign the protocol.
Source- http://www.telecompaper.com
Pumpkin power dawns for African mobile phone networks
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Palm and pumpkin seed oil could soon be generating electricity to help power mobile phone networks across Africa under a plan to replace fossil fuels with sustainable biofuels made from crops grown by local farmers.
Swedish telecoms networks group Ericsson and South African cellphone operator MTN said on Wednesday they want to start replacing diesel with biofuels in electricity generating stations powering mobile phone base stations in rural Africa.
Supported by the GSM Association’s development fund, they will start with a project in Nigeria to use biofuels for power generators supplying mobile base stations located beyond the reach of the electricity grid.
“We’re planning to replicate this in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. India and Bangladesh have also expressed interest,” said Ben Soppitt, program manager emerging markets at the GSM Association (GSMA).
Starting in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, fuel will be processed from palm, groundnut, pumpkin seeds and jatropha.
The crops to generate the biofuel will be cultivated close to the base stations, helping local farmers, cutting dependency on fossil fuels and reducing fuel transportation needs. The cost of fuel, including security to protect transport and storage, can be 80 percent of the cost of a rural phone network.
MTN operates in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East and had 31 million subscribers, while Ericsson is the world’s biggest mobile phone networks company with around 30 percent market share.
AFRICA TAKES THE LEAD
“The early adoption of biofuel-powered mobile networks would place Africa at the forefront of a new wave of innovation,” said Karel Pienaar, chief technology officer at MTN.
Soppitt said the mobile industry could be the world’s first to put alternative energy at the core of its operations.
“Ericsson has been working on this for a while, and with their significant market share the entire market will move with them,” he said.
Rural areas in emerging economies where most new mobile phone subscribers come from are often not connected to the electricity grid, which means that the base stations to connect mobile phone users to the network are powered by generators.
In Nigeria, 75 percent of the country is not grid-connected.
Fuel consumption by these base stations can be significant. Ericsson estimates 25,000 liters of fuel are needed every year to power a base station. The same amount would power close to 20 cars, each driving 20,000 kilometers, for a year.
Worldwide, tens of thousands of new base stations are erected every year, most of them in rural areas as operators aim to expand the coverage of their networks. There are currently close to 2.5 billion mobile phone users on the planet.
The GSMA hopes that the introduction of biofuels will be significantly cheaper than using diesel, and hopes for total cost reductions of 30 percent or more.
“You need to achieve a 30 percent improvement to create sufficient momentum for change,” Soppitt said.
Ericsson estimates around 0.5 square kilometers of palm oil crops are needed to generate the fuel for 20 base stations, the equivalent of 83 football fields.
The crops will be processed into fuel at local facilities.
Ericsson will control farming methods, making sure crops are not genetically manipulated, are grown sustainably and do not require fresh clearing of land by cutting forests.
Solar and wind energy are also being investigated as alternative power sources for remote base stations.
Source- http://us.rd.yahoo.com
