Following its classification as a significant market power (SMP) by Ghanaian authorities, MTN says it has made amendments and implemented remedies recommended by the country’s National Communications Authority (NCA).
The NCA designated MTN as an SMP in 2020, saying the telco had the ability to heavily influence industry pricing of services as market leader.
MTN is the leading telco in Ghana, with a 55.21% market share, and the country remains one of the key markets on the continent for the Johannesburg-based Pan-African mobile operator.
Today, the telco announced it has since implemented three “SMP remedies” and is now in advanced stages of implementing a fourth on national roaming.
“The three remedies implemented so far are: the application of a 30% asymmetrical interconnect rate reduction for two years (from 1 October 2020); the review and approval of all MTN pricing by the NCA (since 1 October 2020); and the removal of the on-net/off-net price differential for voice and data (including for below-the-line promotions).
“We look forward to updating you further on our progress in due course,” the telco says.
MTN Ghana today released results for the quarter ended 31 March, saying it plans more investments and has already rolled out 62 2G, 59 3G and 352 4G sites, and modernised 301 4G sites, which, it says, supported the increase in 4G coverage by 1.2pp to 91.8%.
In the quarter, the telco delivered a 34.5% year-on-year (YOY) increase in service revenue, driven by growth in voice, data and Mobile Money (MoMo).
“This growth was underpinned by the continued execution of our Ambition 2025 strategy and sustained investments of GHS277 million in capex to support improvements in service quality and the expansion of network capacity and coverage.”
Voice revenue grew by 16.9% YOY to GHS785 million, with the company saying the contribution of voice to service revenue declined from 38.5% to 33.4% YOY in favour of increased contribution from data.
MTN says: “Our active data subscribers grew to 12.8 million and helped drive a 64.4% YOY growth in data revenue to GHS872 million. This was further bolstered by growth in the number of smartphones on the network (+5.8% YOY), data traffic (+51.3% YOY) and megabytes consumed per active subscriber (+32.3% YOY).
“In line with our strategy, the contribution of data to service revenue increased from 30.4% to 37.1% YOY.”
Also, in the period, MTN says the number of active MoMo users increased to 11.7 million and MoMo revenue grew by 26.7% YOY to GHS515 million.
Share