MTN Ghana has announced one of its best financial results despite economic headwinds such as cedi depreciation, fiscal spillage, high inflation, plummeting commodity prices, poor quality of power support, among other which resulted in the slow of the country’s economy growth.
The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Mr Ebenezer Asante revealed that telecom giant recorded GH¢2,773 million in 2016 as compared to GH¢2,315 million in 2015.
The company’s strong revenue performance was supported by data, outgoing voice and digital. Data revenue up 65.7 percent, contributing 42 percent to total revenue, driven by expansion of network coverage, increased availability of low-cost smartphones and LTE network, Mr Asante told journalists at the stakeholder’s and media forum in Accra.
He added that the uptake in data usage supported by lifestyle bundles and new data bundles introduced with launch of 4G also contributed significantly to the positive performance. Digital revenue contributed 48% to data revenue, supported by mobile financial services as Mobile Money active subscribers increased by 79.4% to 5.7 million, and it was supported by strong regional innovation and marketing, Mr Asante stated.
During the year under, smartphones on the MTN network increased by 64.4% to 5.3 million. This phenomenal growth is the highest in the telecom industry, according to telecom industry watchers.
Mr Asante was quick to disclosed that the leading telecom service provider also grew its Subscriber base of 18.7% to 19.3 million in the year-ended December 2016. This was driven by attractive value propositions, he noted.
On MTN’s tax obligation to the Ghana government, he stated that for very GH¢1 spent by a customer, a total of 34.5% of it goes into the payment of taxes such as the Value Added Tax (VAT), National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), National Communications Authority (NCA), and others.
To this end, MTN Ghana paid a total of GH¢1.1 billion to the government and other regulatory agencies in 2016. The telecom firm paid GH¢718 million in taxes to the Ghana Revenues Authority (GRA) and GH¢51.8 million to NCA and GIFEC as dues and an additional GH¢258 for the 4G LTE. While GH¢85 million was incurred for SIIT, according to the CEO.
Touching on employment, Mr Asante estimated the number of jobs created directly and indirectly by the company at 500,000, explaining that the ecosystem of dealers/distributors, retailers, suppliers, partners, recharge card printers, marketing and advertising firms, among others that depended on MTN for the sustainability of their businesses, meant that MTN had a duty to those companies and their employees to remain sustainable.
It is the light of these that we never stopped to plan, invest, and staying relevant to the community in which the telecom giant operates, he maintained.
While the MTN Ghana Foundation, the CRS wing of the telecom firm, has spent over 33 million Ghana cedis on 142 projects in health, education and economic empowerment across the country in nine years. These interventions, according to him, had impacted positively on millions of Ghanaian lives directly and indirectly throughout Ghana.
Touching on challenges of the telcos, Mr Asante lamented network fibre cuts were still big a challenge in 2016 after several attempts to solve the problem.
He also complained about the erratic power supply, which is hitting hard on the operations of MTN Ghana, and several other companies in the country.
For MTN Ghana and other big companies, the cost of the erratic power supply is greater. Their equipment are affected by the erratic power outages.
Though, the telecom giant has standby generators, the recent hikes on the prices of petroleum products further increased its cost of production.
These were unanticipated costs last year, but the leading telecom service provider still needed to meet them, in order to provide its customers with the excellent services they deserve, Mr Asante told the journalists.
As the leader in both voice, mobile data, and mobile money, MTN Ghana CEO is optimistic that the company is committed to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to create a distinct experience for its customers.
African Eye Report
