Cellular provider MTN's subscriber figures to end-September show 37% growth for the quarter.
The company said in a statement it had a total of 34.768 million subscribers, including the 7.384 million subscribers it gained through the Investcom acquisition. At the end of June, the company had 25.371 million subscribers, indicating organic subscriber growth of two million.
MTN Group CEO Phuthuma Nhleko said: "Growth in subscribers is well balanced between existing and new operations. It is a further milestone in diversifying the MTN Group's subscriber base and earnings. I am pleased with the overall progress we are making in integrating our new operations."
In July, MTN's largest rival, Vodacom, said it had 25.2 million customers across its networks operating in SA, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho and Mozambique.
MTN previously indicated it hoped to add eight million subscribers by December, taking its total base to 39.5 million subscribers. At its half-year results presentation, the company said it aimed to add a further 2.6 million subscribers in Nigeria, down from its previously stated three million goal.
In SA, the company sought to add two million subscribers to its base and MTN still aims to add a million subscribers in Iran, by year-end. Irancell has over 65 000 subscribers.
MTN also said in August that Investcom should garner another 2.5 million subscribers by December 2006. "Excluding the impact of subscriber additions related to the acquisition of Investcom, subscribers grew 8% for the quarter," it said. Investcom reported standalone subscriber growth of 20%.
On track
MTN's definition of a subscriber is anyone who has made, or received, a revenue-generating call in the last 90 days.
An analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, says MTN is on track to hit close to 40 million subscribers by year-end.
The South African region increased its subscriber base by 7% for the quarter, which was driven mostly off the back of the company's South African operations.
"In the West and Central Africa region, much of the growth for the quarter is still due to MTN Nigeria and, to a lesser extent, Ghana," the company said. Middle East and North East Africa recorded subscriber growth of 17% for the quarter, mainly as a result of "strong" growth in Syria and Uganda.
MTN added that growth in Sudan was "dampened by the relatively slow network roll-out", but Afghanistan exceeded expectations.
Surprising average revenue
The analyst is surprised by the company's average revenue per user (ARPU), which exceeded his expectations. He says the quarter was traditionally a "slow" quarter. However, ARPU was "just short of what I was looking at".
MTN said ARPU from its Investcom operations "reflects only the average revenue generated since the acquisition by the MTN Group at the beginning of July 2006". MTN SA's ARPU moved up to R162 during the quarter, driven by prepaid ARPU moving up to R94 on "strong usage growth".
Across the rest of the group's international operations, MTN said ARPUs remained strong with "no significant dilution experienced". Afghanistan reported ARPU for the first time of $16 per subscriber.
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