MTN reports record subscribers

Johannesburg - Mobile phone operator MTN Group [JSE:MTN] has increased subscriber numbers by 3.2% in the first quarter 2013 from the fourth quarter 2012 to 195.4 million.

MTN operates in 22 countries across Africa and the Middle East.

In South Africa‚ despite a slow start to the year‚ MTN maintained its market share. In Nigeria‚ MTN continued to record a good performance in a highly competitive market‚ it said on Thursday.

The company said it maintained its guidance for net additions for the full 2013 year at 21 million.

In South Africa after a strong 2012‚ the past quarter was characterised by a weaker consumer environment as well as increased pricing competition.

The business recorded 470 000 net disconnections‚ a quarter on quarter decrease of 1.9% in the traditionally weak period‚ which was further exacerbated by the strong subscriber growth recorded in the last quarter of 2012.

In the period under review‚ the average price per minute declined 5.5% compared to the same period a year earlier‚ placing some pressure on revenue growth.

Blended ARPU declined 8.1% to R110.62 as a result of promotional activities and a decline in effective tariffs. Towards the end of the quarter there has been some sign of an improvement in both subscriber and revenue trends.

Data revenue remains a key focus for the business. In the past quarter‚ active data subscribers were 13.3 million‚ data revenue‚ including MTN Business and mobile data‚ increased approximately 15.7% year on year.

Following a challenging 2012 in Nigeria‚ there was a continued improvement in the key operating metrics for the Nigerian business in the past quarter.

MTN recorded net additions of 3.9 million‚ an increase of 8.1% q/q‚ as the market rebounded following the significant price reductions during August and September 2012. MTN increased its market share by 2 percentage points to 49.7%.

Average daily revenue continued to increase from September 2012 and over the past six months‚ average daily revenue has increased 12.8%. Despite the recently announced sharper-than-expected reduction in mobile termination rates‚ MTN is confident that the market will return to robust year ago revenue growth levels by the start of the fourth quarter 2013.

MTN Irancell increased subscribers by 2.6% q/q. Local currency ARPU continued to track higher although US dollar ARPU was impacted by the movement in the rial.