Category: Media releases
MTN South Africa and MTN GlobalConnect, in partnership with the 2Africa consortium, which includes China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, are pleased to land the 45 000km 2Africa cable in Yzerfontein and Duynefontein, South Africa.
For MTN GlobalConnect, this landing is the first in a series of six across five countries: South Africa (*two), Sudan, Cote D’Ivoire, Nigeria and Ghana, will allow MTN GlobalConnect to showcase, in a tangible manner, the importance of connectivity and creating cross border networks, that connect Africa to the rest of the world. The 2Africa cable connection will go live in 2023.
This subsea cable will lay the foundation for improved global internet access, connecting people and continents. Once live, it will play a big part in delivering much-needed capacity in Africa from Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The 2Africa landing is one of several cable landings taking place across 46 locations in 33 countries.
MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita said: “Strategic partnerships such as the one we have with the 2Africa consortium will help us accelerate and deepen internet adoption and socio-economic progress across the African continent. Data traffic across African markets is expected to grow between four and five fold over the next 5 years, so we need infrastructure and capacity to meet that level of growth and demand”.
Our target, which is underpinned by MTN’s Ambition 2025 strategy, is to rollout a total of 135 000 km of proprietary fibre by 2025, generating up to US$1 billion in revenue. Entrenching MTN as the number one African fibre player, by building subsea and terrestrial scalable capacity and resilience.
This cable landing adds to another milestone to the digital railroads we are building around Africa, making telecommunications accessible and available.
MTN GlobalConnect CEO Frédéric Schepens said: “MTN GlobalConnect is pleased to participate in this bold 2Africa subsea cable project. The initiative complements our terrestrial fibre strategy to connect African countries to each other and to the rest of the world. We are building scale infrastructure assets to meet the explosive growth in data traffic and accelerate the digital economy on the continent, by creating a pan-African fibre railroad driving affordable connectivity.”
He added: “We are proud of the progress made on our journey and of the key role we are playing in providing South Africans and the rest of Africa with the benefits of a modern connected life.”
The 2Africa subsea cable system will support the western and eastern sides of Africa, once complete in 2023 and 2024 respectively. This means that South African service providers can acquire capacity in carrier-neutral data centres or open-access cable landing stations on a fair and equitable basis. This will support the development of a healthy internet ecosystem by facilitating improved internet accessibility for businesses and consumers alike.
MTN GlobalConnect – which is the 2Africa landing party in Duynefontein and Yzerfontein – has partnered with MTN South Africa to complete the landing on South African soil. The Yzerfontein landing will support the 2Africa West cable and the MTN South Africa landing station in Duynefontein will support the 2Africa East cable.
The cable, with a design capacity of up to 180 TBps. on key parts of the system, will deliver much-needed internet capacity, reliability, and improved internet performance across large parts of Africa; supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East; and underpin the further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access for millions of people.
We are proud to form part of a consortium which is aligned to delivering on our Ambition 2025 strategy: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress, by investing in connectivity to improve global economic growth, while uplifting the livelihoods of many in South Africa and the rest of Africa.
MTN Zambia today launched our 5G network, becoming the first mobile operator in Zambia to offer 5G services commercially after successfully undertaking trials of the transformative technology over the past 11 months.
His Excellency Mr. Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia, presided over the occasion, which took place at Mulungushi International Conference Centre. Several Zambian government ministers and representatives of the sector regulator and central bank were also in attendance. Leading the MTN Group delegation were Chairman Mcebisi Jonas, Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita and Southern and East Africa Vice President Yolanda Cuba.
“The launch of this ultra-fast communication capacity serves as a clear indication of MTN’s commitment to being a major player in Zambia’s digital economy,” said Jonas. “We look forward to continuing to work together to meaningfully impact the growth and development of Zambia.”
Mupita said MTN Zambia was the Group’s third operation in Africa (after Nigeria and South Africa) where 5G services were now commercially available. “5G can transform business and livelihoods beyond simple connectivity, with the potential to unlock many new use cases,” he said. “In Zambia, we see great opportunities across many sectors, and in the mining industry in particular.”
MTN Zambia CEO Bart Hofker said MTN’s 5G services had been activated to cover about 65% of the population in the cities of Lusaka, Kitwe and Ndola as well as parts of Chingola, Solwezi and Kalumbila. This translates into about 15% of the population. “We plan to reach 100% 5G coverage in Lusaka, Kitwe and Ndola by the middle of 2023, while gradually expanding the 5G network to other locations,” he said, adding that MTN Zambia customers need a 5G-enabled device to connect to the 5G network where it is available.
5G is essentially fifth-generation mobile network technology which offers faster speeds, lower latency, better security and stability and the ability to handle high volume connections and mobile data. It can connect virtually everyone and everything, including machines, vehicles and robots in future. For industries like mining and manufacturing, the network can be used to automate processes to increase capacity and efficiency. 5G also has the potential to be a driving force for innovation and entrepreneurship.
The introduction of 5G is part of a wider network strategy for MTN Zambia. Other programmes involve the optimisation and modernisation of existing 3G and 4G networks, the building of a fibre ring in Zambia with MTN GlobalConnect, as well as the extension of coverage in more rural areas. Through our rural connectivity programme, MTN Zambia and our partners plan to use cost-effective coverage alternatives to launch 45 rural sites in 2022 and another 100 in 2023.
To address Africa’s digital skills gap, MTN Group, through some of its operating companies, is partnering with SAS Training, Courses & Classes to train up to 100 young people in data analytics. This is part of the MTN Skills Academy’s work to promote digital skills for digital jobs, in turn supporting MTN Group’s strategic intent of providing digital solutions for Africa’s progress.
Polaris Market Research puts the 2021 value of the global data science platform market at $95 billion and expects it to expand at a compound annual growth rate of more than 27% through to 2030, driven by the increasing data volumes being generated by organisations.
“For Africa to realise its full potential, we need to address the lack of skills funding,” says MTN Group Senior Vice President for Markets Ebenezer Asante, adding that eight MTN operating companies had assigned learners to participate in the training that the Group is providing through its partnership with SAS.
“Africa has the largest and fastest-growing youth population in the world. While this holds tremendous development promise, youth unemployment statistics remain a cause for major concern. It is only by investing in developing the right skills that we are going to overcome this challenge,” Asante adds.
Essie Mokgonyana, SAS Country Manager & Sales Director for South Africa, says: “We are committed to supporting public and private organisations across Africa adopt cloud platforms to tap into the full potential of their analytic capabilities and resources to accelerate innovation and higher operational efficiencies. And key to this support is being a part of the change; to create and sustain skills-based training programmes that not only meet industries’ needs for critical data science skills while offering the youth of today opportunities to access gainful professional advancement and employment tomorrow but lay the path for future talent pipelines. We are exceptionally proud to partner with MTN Group on this programme that bodes enormous potential for all parties involved.”
The training initiative consists of a six-week programme, the first part of which is self-paced and the second contains live instructor-led courses.
“During this programme all participants will have full access to SAS® Skill Builder for Students, which includes a repository of resources to help participants learn SAS Data Science skills; from free online courses for certification purposes to exam preparation materials, and practical case studies where participants can learn more about how SAS software solutions are used in the industries they’re interested in and for their career advancement,” says Adesh Nathalal, Education Manager at SAS in South Africa.
After the initial six-week programme, half the participants will undergo further training with MTN’s in-house data analytics academy.
“This initiative is part of the work of the broader MTN Skills Academy to equip young people with the skills that are in high demand, in turn making them more employable,” says Asante, adding that MTN is committed to closing the skills gap and contributing to youth empowerment wherever we operate.
Supported by the solid performance of large subsidiary MTN South Africa, MTN Group today reported resilient overall results for the first nine months of 2022, under difficult macroeconomic, geopolitical and regulatory conditions across our markets.
Total MTN Group subscribers increased by 6.8% to 285 million; our fintech business’s customer base rose by 23.3% to 63 million; and fintech transaction volumes increased by a third to 9.5 billion.
MTN South Africa – which is the second-largest contributor to MTN Group service revenue after MTN Nigeria – grew subscriber numbers by more than 800 000, or 8.1%, to 35.9 million in the period to 30 September 2022. Service revenue growth of 3.5% was impacted by loadshedding and revenue concessions that supported the recapitalisation of national roaming customer Cell C.
MTN South Africa’s enterprise business continued to expand, delivering service revenue growth of 19.7%. The consumer postpaid business was resilient, with growth of 4.2%. The rising cost of living and the impact of loadshedding was felt most acutely in the consumer prepaid market, where service revenue grew by 0.4% in the period.
“Amid unprecedented loadshedding which negatively affected network availability, MTN South Africa expanded market share, delivered encouraging underlying service revenue growth, strong expense controls and investment in network resilience and expanding the 5G coverage,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita.
“Supported by an increase in smartphone penetration, MTN SA continued to make data more affordable: the effective data tariff reduced by 23.4% year on year. This helped stimulate usage for both prepaid and postpaid subscribers. Work on network resilience and availability progressed well, but persistent loadshedding in the last quarter of the year could impact revenue growth, particularly in the consumer prepaid market,” he added.
Over the past week, MTN Group’s listed subsidiaries in Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda and Uganda have released detailed third quarter trading updates. These operations contributed to the overall increase of 14.3%, in constant currency, to R144 billion in MTN Group service revenue; strong growth in data traffic and fintech transaction volumes; and the expansion of the Group EBITDA profit margin to 45.3% in an environment of elevated energy and general inflation.
The Group maintained a strong balance sheet with the early partial settlement of US$300 million of 2024 Eurobonds, resulting in lower hard currency debt and reducing the holding company leverage to 0.8x. The Group’s liquidity position remained strong with cash and committed undrawn facilities totalling R59 billion. Cash upstreaming of R11.5 billion from operations in the first nine months of the year was further improved with R1.5 billion in cash repatriated from Nigeria in October 2022, after the period close.
In line with our Ambition 2025 strategy, the Group announced progress with Middle East exit plans, having entered into agreements with M1 New Ventures to dispose of the shareholding in MTN Afghanistan for a gross consideration of US$35 million, subject to transition agreement and regulatory approvals.
MTN Group also reported progress with its process of strategic minority investment into the Group fintech business, noting that it was now in the binding offer phase and expecting outcomes in early Q1 2023.
“We are encouraged by the growth and expansion of the fintech ecosystem as we see robust transaction volumes driven by growth in customers, agents and merchants,” said Mupita. “In the near term, revenue growth has been impacted by new taxes in a few markets, but we continue to see the case for structural and compelling growth for fintech services in the medium term that will deepen financial inclusion across Africa.”
As to the outlook for the rest of the year, Mupita said it remained challenging given the difficult geopolitical conditions and macroeconomic environment globally, but that MTN Group was well positioned to withstand any shocks or take advantage of growth and value-creating opportunities that may arise.
MTN Group and Microsoft today announced a strategic alliance agreement to accelerate digital and cloud transformation working towards a shared vision of driving Africa’s growth. The agreement is in support of MTN’s strategic intent of leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress to support governments, businesses of all sizes and customers using the versatility of Microsoft platforms, solutions and capabilities to accelerate value creation.
The agreement centres on transforming and modernising MTN’s communications and technology infrastructure together with harnessing capabilities and building the largest and most valuable platform business with a clear focus on Africa.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Microsoft – a company with the strength and scale to complement MTN’s capabilities and to support our Ambition 2025 strategy,” said Group Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Chika Ekeji. “Together we will use the power of technology and connectivity to innovate and accelerate the digitalisation and development of the continent.”
Furthermore, the two companies will develop joint go-to-market plans across the major markets where MTN operates to serve the digital transformation ambitions of African enterprise customers. Microsoft will invest in skilling MTN Group resources to drive focused selling of Microsoft’s products and cloud services in Africa.
“Our valuable, longstanding partnership with MTN will play a pivotal role in Africa’s digital transformation, and we are proud to continue building on that decade-long collaboration with our newest venture. We recognise the potential that Africa holds to stand among the leaders of the digital world, and we are committed to maximising our partnerships to deliver infrastructure that accelerates this transformation and enables a connected, digital-first continent,” says Samer Abu-Ltaif, Corporate Vice-President and President of Microsoft Middle East and Africa.
In addition to the cloud transformation and joint enterprise go-to-market plans, the partnership includes ongoing knowledge-sharing, innovation and growth opportunities. Joint initiatives will be in areas such as digital education, micro-SME digitisation, fintech and gaming, thereby creating shared value and extending digital and financial inclusion across Africa.
“Our partnership with MTN will empower and enable the future growth of Africa through the joint development of innovative solutions; a dedicated focus on digital skilling and education; robust go-to-market strategy transformation; and the advancement of SMMEs and industries to compete on the global digital stage”
The parties will also execute a carrier agreement which will position MTN as a major provider of terrestrial connectivity to support Microsoft’s Africa-based expansion plans.
Both companies strongly believe that digital transformation, particularly when leveraging the power of the cloud, presents an opportunity for the continent to leap ahead and benefit from widespread socio-economic growth.
Sanlam and MTN Group are pleased to announce that our strategic alliance to market and distribute insurance and investment products across Africa has reached a significant milestone with the fulfilment of the regulatory, competition and other requirements. The effective date of the transaction is 31 October 2022.
The strategic alliance will be implemented through MTN Group’s InsurTech platform aYo Holdings (aYo) and each partner will hold 50% of aYo.
Through aYo, the alliance will continue to build and develop digital insurance and investment offerings that provide people across Africa with easier access to Sanlam’s products, particularly those people who have typically been unable to access traditional distribution channels.
MTN Group President and CEO Mr Ralph Mupita said the alliance was aligned to the Group’s strategic intent to lead digital solutions for Africa’s progress: “We are confident that this alliance will build and leverage the strengths and assets of both companies to establish a digital insurance and investment capability across Africa.”
Said Sanlam Group CEO, Mr Paul Hanratty: “We are delighted to reach such a critical stage in our drive to deepen penetration of insurance and investment products across Africa through strategic partnerships.”
We are confident that a strong foundation is in place for this alliance. Sanlam believes that this strategic alliance with the MTN Group will make a considerable contribution to financial inclusion in Africa.”
By leveraging off the MTN brand, Sanlam’s licensing, broad product capabilities, financial services expertise and both group’s geographical footprint across the continent, the alliance has the potential to pre-empt and adapt to digital disruption in markets where both companies operate.
On the side-lines of MWC Africa, Smart Africa and MTN have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to advance digital skills in Africa in an effort to develop capacity for Africans to utilise ICTs and be fully empowered participants of an ICT-driven economy and society.
The partnership establishes a digital skills ecosystem between the Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) and MTN Skills Academy to advance digital literacy, digital and financial skills training, and digital competencies. It seeks to unlock socioeconomic development by leveraging the power of technology to empower youth and women, and drive social inclusion for all, particularly differently abled persons.
According to the World Economic Forum some 230 million jobs across the continent will require some level of digital skills by 2030. With a clear focus on equipping African citizens with relevant skills, the partnership covers the development of demand-based skills training and trends, career pathways, occupations, job roles, skills and competencies for Africa’s ICT sector.
Lacina Koné, the DG and CEO of Smart Africa commented: “We are committed to bridging digital skill gaps across Africa to ensure the inclusive digital development of the continent. We are confident that the MTN Skills Academy will support us in accelerating our mission and nurturing an ecosystem of ICT specialized training that will increase digital proficiency across our member states. This is a testament of our bold and innovative multistakeholder approach”
The Smart Africa Digital Academy is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem which aims to improve digital skills qualifications, employability, and meet the emerging talent needs of African citizens. With a vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030, the Smart Africa Alliance ensures an all-inclusive digital transformation by building the digital skills of African citizens.
“Through our partnership with Smart Africa, we see the opportunity to accelerate our efforts to drive job creation, productivity and competitiveness through digital skills and technological innovations. This will go a long way in turning our continent from being largely consumers to producers of ICTs,” said MTN Group Chief Sustainability & Corporate Affairs Officer, Nompilo Morafo.
The MTN Skills Academy focuses on digital solutions to make career guidance accessible to all young people; enabling access to free digital and financial skills training; driving work readiness to enhance employment prospects; and creating a public and private sector-wide job hub to improve job placement prospects across the continent.
The partnership is a testament of the commitment of both Smart Africa and MTN to integrate ICT into the continents’ development agenda to reduce poverty, create prosperity and increase productivity on the continent.
Determined to play our part in building the digital skills that Africa needs for its digital transformation, MTN has launched the MTN Skills Academy to develop people across the continent as producers, consumers and innovators of digital technologies.
“We aim to create solutions that enhance opportunities and tackle some of the challenges that Africa faces. Unemployment is chief among these, exacerbated by low digital literacy, access and skills,” said MTN Group Chief Sustainability & Corporate Affairs Officer Nompilo Morafo. “Our ‘Digital Skills for Digital Jobs’ programme will enhance the link between digital skills training and demand for jobs. The MTN Skills Academy will act as an accessible-to-all tool.”
The Academy was launched on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress Africa in Kigali, Rwanda and is aligned with the African Union’s ‘Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa’ as well as MTN’s Ambition 2025 strategic intent of leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress.
Rwanda’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology and Innovation Paula Ingabire spoke at the launch event on Tuesday. “This initiative nicely complements the programmes we are rolling out at country and continent level and enhances the ecosystem,” she said. “We are particularly pleased to have the tools to get to hard-to-reach places by getting devices into people’s hands so that they can participate in the initiative and get the necessary skills to be employable.”
MTN Rwanda Chief Executive Officer Mapula Bodibe thanked the Minister for her support, and said MTN Rwanda – alongside MTN operations in Ghana, Uganda and Zambia – would be the first to roll out the MTN Skills Academy in 2022. It will be launched in the Group’s other markets in 2023.
Of sub-Saharan Africa’s 200 million young people, around 38 million are not in any form of education, employment or training. This number is rising, and young women are more than twice as likely to be affected as young men, according to the International Labour Organization. The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development says that 60% of youth and adults must have at least a minimum level of proficiency in sustainable digital skills by 2025.
Together with various public and private sector partners, the MTN Skills Academy focuses on: digital solutions to make career guidance accessible to all young people; access to free online digital and financial skills training; driving work readiness to enhance employment prospects; and creating a public and private sector-wide job hub to improve job placement prospects across the continent.
Designed to be inclusive, its features include low-data use; zero-rating in select markets; country-specific and language functionality; as well as those features that enable its use by differently abled persons. It leverages the strengths of partners, including PACE Career Centre (to provide comprehensive career guidance) and online learning provider Coursera (to provide basic, intermediate and advanced technology and business skills training).
“MTN wants a prosperous Africa; one in which everyone benefits from a modern connected life. Our work is inextricably linked to the wellbeing of the communities we serve. With the MTN Skills Academy, Africans can prepare for emerging careers at unprecedented speed and scale, contributing significantly to solving the unemployment challenges the continent faces,” said Morafo.
MTN Group has announced that the network will host an Africa-first virtual concert on 30 November 2022 in Ubuntuland, Africa’s metaverse. In February this year, MTN Group became the first African company to purchase land in Ubuntuland with a vision to create dedicated environments for creating unique immersive experiences for its customers.
“The MTN Group’s presence in the African metaverse will be known as altMTN. altMTN allows us to further support our ambition to lead digital platforms and support African innovation, and will, over time feature live events, shopping, gaming and learning,” says Bernice Samuels, Executive: Group Marketing at MTN Group. “To welcome everyone to altMTN we will leverage our partnership with The Mic: Africa, to host Africa’s first virtual music concert in the metaverse to drive awareness and adoption of this new space”.
Analysis Group estimates that the Metaverse could contribute $40 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP by 2031. The Metaverse will provide African brands with significant opportunities to tell unique stories in engaging ways.
“Many people still see the virtual worlds and environments as confusing and inaccessible, and so we are very proud to bring the altMTN experience to market in a way that can be accessed via mobile, tablet, PC or VR handset” Samuels says. “For our launch event, we will be running a competition with our customers, giving them a chance to win exclusive tickets to the concert. We believe that by tapping into a key passion on the continent, namely music, we can actively draw our customers into the environment to not only experience it first-hand, but also to help us to improve altMTN as this developing technology increasingly interconnects and matures, to unlock the full benefits for our customers.”
“The metaverse holds a wide array of opportunities to further enhance and showcase African innovation and are excited to be pioneers of this journey on the continent,” concluded Samuels.
MTN Group hosted diplomats from across 18 markets at a special dinner at our Fairland headquarters on Tuesday, offering to work alongside their governments to help boost economic recovery in the countries we call home.
The annual event was MTN Group’s first in-person Ambassadors’ Dinner since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted all social engagements.
“One of our four strategic priorities is to ‘create shared value’ and regularly engaging with our key stakeholders is essential for us to deliver on this priority,” said MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita, adding that the Group stood ready to partner with governments to spur on economic growth and job creation.
“Just as Africa was starting to recover from the devastating impacts of the pandemic, we faced the local repercussions of the war in Ukraine. At MTN we take seriously our responsibility to assist our markets as best we can, and the tools of the digital economy can no doubt help accelerate recovery and growth.”
MTN Group is Africa’s largest network operator, with 282 million subscribers and the belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life. Our strategic intent is ‘Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress’.
At the event, MTN eSwatini was announced as the winner of this year’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care employee volunteerism programme, which aims to secure strong participation by staff in high-impact social projects in their local communities.
Launched in 2007, the annual campaign allows MTNers to give of their time and resources to support those around them. In 2022, Y’ello Care was themed ‘Empowering Communities to Drive Economic Recovery and Job Creation’. More than 3 500 MTN staff volunteered, impacting over 7 800 people directly and some 23 700 indirectly.
As the winner, MTN eSwatini claimed US$100 000 from MTN Group to plough back into future community projects. The opco focused on using digital skills and tools as an enabler for income-generating opportunities. This was augmented by giving beneficiaries access to the newly launched MTN Foundation Khanyisa App.
“Leveraging our digital enablement tools and platforms ensures we help the continent move forward,” said MTN Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer Nompilo Morafo. “During the 21 Days of Y’ello Care, MTNers have shown that they can be drivers of change as we work towards fulfilling our continent’s potential.”
MTN Cameroon was declared the winner in MTN’s West and Central Africa region and MTN Uganda won in the Southern and East Africa region. They each received US$30 000 to use in future community projects. The ‘Innovation Award’ went to MTN Nigeria, while MTN Ghana and MTN Uganda shared the ‘Integrity Award’. MTN Zambia won the ‘Most Improved Award’.