Author: Gugu Lourie

MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) business is riding high, adding millions of new users and attracting agents. MoMo allows users to purchase airtime, prepaid electricity, and pay for their municipal bills and DSTV subscriptions. Registered mobile money accounts in Africa grew 12% to 562 million in 2020, while monthly active accounts were 161 million, an 18% increase, according to the GSMA’s State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2021.08.16 The report also found that total transactions hit 27.5 billion (up 15%) valued at $495 billion or R7.3 trillion (up 23%). It has 171 active mobile money services. MTN seems to…

Phuthuma Nhleko, former CEO and executive chairman of MTN Group, has stepped down from Africa’s biggest mobile phone company’s international advisory board (IAB). “MTN wishes to advise shareholders that Phuthuma Nhleko has stepped down from the IAB, effective 6 August 2021,” the MTN statement reads. As announced at its inception, the IAB is MTN’s non-statutory body and does not have any fiduciary responsibility. “Phuthuma’ s contribution to the IAB, since 2019, has been invaluable and the board of directors of MTN wishes to extend its gratitude for his exemplary leadership and dedication to MTN and to his role as a member…

MTN Group on Thursday disclosed that its instant messaging platform, Ayoba, had reached 8 million monthly active users as of June 2021. Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator by subscribers said Ayoba has added 2.5 million new users since December 2020. MTN said the instant messaging platform has now been integrated into 18 MTN markets. “We rolled out an updated version of Ayoba, which includes music, gaming, channels and money transfer services.” In Nigeria, MTN’s biggest market and Africa’s populous market, the digital business continued to gain traction on the back of a strong partner ecosystem and the uptake of products…

MTN Group announced on Thursday it had initiated an exit of Syria, by abandoning the operation given the regulatory actions and demands that make operating in the market untenable. “We reserve our right to seek redress through international legal processes given the actions of the Syrian authorities that have left us with no other choice than to exit,” the company said in a financial results note to investors. MTN said in the first quarter Syria operation represented less than 1% of MTN Group EBITDA, before deconsolidation in February 2021. On 25 February 2021, the Administrative Court of Damascus placed MTN…

MTN GlobalConnect, a digital wholesale and infrastructure services company and an operating company in the MTN Group, is making inroads into the rest of the African markets as it clinches new fixed wholesale deals. MTN informed investors on Thursday that MTN GlobalConnect has recorded a healthy commercial and financial performance, signing new fixed wholesale deals to the value of $27.3 million or R400 million in total contract value terms during the first quarter. The company added that the unit also delivered growth in external revenue of 40.0% year-on-year to $45.5 million or R668 million (total revenue of $248 million or…

MTN SA has committed R10 million to support qualifying spaza shops in KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng that were decimated in the unrest. In the days following the unrest. MTN SA CEO Godfrey Motsa made a public plea for big businesses to work closely with small and micro-businesses to help re-establish and support those entities that were amongst the hardest hit during the rioting and looting. MTN has completed its review of the spaza shops with which it already has existing relationships, that were impacted by the unrest. Next week, MTN will open applications for other spaza shops that may be…

MTN South Africa has cut data prices by as much as 60% with the price of the 1GB of ad hoc data reduced to R85. “This further data price reduction as well as our efforts to supporting small businesses, are some of the most impactful ways we believe we can reignite the economy. Our efforts in this regard will be further enabled by the allocation of much-needed spectrum,” says Godfrey Motsa, MTN South Africa’s CEO. “A successful and sustainable South Africa needs large and small businesses prospering side by side and immediate release of the high demand spectrum that continuously…

Nedbank’s super app Avo, launched during the national lockdown, continues to scale significantly and targets business-to-business opportunities. Since its launch in app stores on 19 June 2020, Avo has signed up more than 265 000 customers, along with over 17 500 businesses registering and offering their products and services on this e-commerce platform. Nedbank informed investors on Wednesday that product orders continue to grow exponentially, up 45% in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, which is seasonally a substantial period for retail sales. “Avo has been the first super app to market, and we intend…

Sbu Shabalala stepped down Tuesday as chief executive of Adapt IT, a JSE-listed software group helped found in 1998 and is now valued at R934 million. On May 10, Shabalala was granted a three-month leave of absence to attend to personal matters after he was accused of masterminding an attack on an Ethekwini municipality manager. Tiffany Dunsdon, chief commercial officer, who is interim CEO while Shabalala is on leave, will continue in her role, Adapt IT announced on Tuesday. “Shabalala has since taken the decision to terminate his employment with Adapt IT and resign as director of Adapt IT and…

South African mobile and fixed-line telephone customers seem to be generally doing well, thanks to the number portability regulation giving them more options: to choose when to stay or dump either Vodacom, MTN, Telkom Mobile and Cell C. By the end of July, the average mobile ports per month were more than 73,624, according to recent stats published by the Number Portability Company (NPC). The NPC was founded in 2006 to protect the customer by enabling him or her to vote with their feet when they are not happy with the Telco services, seems concerned with service woes. From November 2006 to the end…