Pan-African mobile operator MTN is looking to add more customers across the 21 markets in which it operates, growing its customer base to 300 million subscribers in the next five years.
This is according to MTN SA CEO Godfrey Motsa,
For the six months ended 30 June, the JSE-listed group revealed it now has 240 million customers, after adding 7.7 million subscribers in the first six months.
Speaking at the 2019 MTN Business App of the Year Awards event at the Sandton Convention Centre last night, Motsa told the audience his company has set its sights on three magic numbers: 300, 200 and 100.
This, he explained, means 300 million subscribers – 200 million data subscribers and 100 million digital subscribers in the next five years. “For digital subscribers to exist, we need to have data subscribers.”
Big spender
According to Motsa, his company is committed to building the “best network” in SA, having spent over R50 billion in the last five years in order to achieve this; the result of which has been 95% 4G population coverage across SA.
Motsa continued to say that preparing the network for 5G, the mobile operator has a massive investment project dubbed “monZA”. It stands for modernisation of the network in SA.
“Primarily, this is a one billion euro investment in the next three years. At MTN, we really believe it all starts with the network and there are no short cuts to a best network, it requires us to invest.
“We’ll be swapping every radio in the network. We’ll be swapping all the antennas in the network to ensure that when we get the new spectrum we’ve been awaiting for 14 years, we’ve got a network that is fit for purpose.”
Smart tools
Once the network has been built, the next phase is to ensure customers have the tools to access the digital economy, he said.
The MTN SA CEO believes there is a massive opportunity in terms of fuelling and pushing smartphones and smart devices.
“Today in SA you are looking at 60% smartphone penetration. If you look at the overall group [MTN], you find that hardly a third of our customers are using the Internet.
“We spend over R8 billion a year in SA just buying phones and we distribute over seven million phones of which the majority are smartphones, 3G and 4G, and moving forward, we will also be buying and distributing 5G devices.”
5G spectrum
He pointed out his company is 5G-ready, noting the only inhibiting factor is that there is no 5G spectrum.
Today, SA is in a spectrum crunch, said Motsa. “The biggest driver to help us bring down prices even more will be the availability of more spectrum.”
Despite this, he told the audience he is encouraged by the discussions with the regulators and government on this matter, as they have never been better.
“We are making a lot of progress; it looks like everybody understands that the revolution has arrived and if we are slow, we are going to miss it.”
Government issued the long-awaited policy and policy direction for the licensing of high-demand spectrum in July, paving the way for wholesale open access network (WOAN) licensing.
In the policy, communications and digital technologies minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams directs that a portion of unallocated high-demand spectrum must first be assigned to a network category of licensees, known as WOAN, and the remainder must then be assigned to other eligible licensees.
Motsa concluded by saying: “We really believe in building the best networks, and will continue to invest in that. We believe in democratising access, especially smartphones and smart devices because we believe in the fourth industrial revolution – everything that can be connected will be connected.”
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