MTN Group Limited, formerly M-Cell, is a South African
multinational mobile
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
company, operating in many African and Asian countries. Its head office is in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
. , MTN recorded 280 million subscribers, making it the
8th largest mobile network operator in the world, and the largest in Africa. Active in over 20 countries, one-third of the company's revenue comes from
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, where it holds about 35% market share.
MTN Group is the primary
sponsor of the
South Africa national rugby union team
The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerse ...
and sponsors English football club
Manchester United and Zambian Super League. The Nigerian subsidiary of the group also has an existing sponsorship deal with the
Nigerian Football Federation.
History
The company was founded in 1994 as M-Cell with assistance from the South African government. In 1995, it replaced its then-CEO, John Beck, with Robert (Bob) Chaphe and founder Leena Jaitley. In 2001, the company reported that its controlling shareholder was Johnnic Holdings, and the chairperson was
Irene Charnley
Irene Charnley (born 6 May 1960) is a former trade unionist and businesswoman from South Africa.
Career
Charnley first made her mark on the African business community as a negotiator for South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers where she ...
. In 2002,
Phuthuma Nhleko
Freedom Phuthuma Nhleko (born 7 April 1960) is a South African businessman, formerly chief executive and executive chairman of MTN Group, a South African multinational mobile telecommunications company primarily focused on Africa.
Career
Nhle ...
became the CEO, replacing then-CEO Paul Edwards, who had invested in expansion to Nigeria.
MTN's competitors in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
include
Vodacom
Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include ...
,
Cell C and
Telkom Mobile
Telkom (previously known as Telkom Mobile or 8.ta, changing from 8ta in 2013) is a South African mobile telecommunications company. Telkom Mobile was launched in October 2010 and is owned by Telkom. Telkom phone numbers use the 0811 to 0819 dia ...
.
In May 2008,
Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, ...
, an India-based telecommunications company, explored the possibility of buying MTN Group.
Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) was an Indian mobile network provider headquartered in Navi Mumbai that offered voice and 2G and 3G and 4G data services.
In February 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy as it was unable to sell asse ...
was also in talks with MTN for a "potential combination of their businesses". In July, the two companies ended discussions regarding the merger.
In June 2008, MTN Group agreed to purchase Verizon Business South Africa, which was a provider of data services to customers in South Africa and four other African countries. The acquisition was completed on 28 February 2009.
On 26 June 2009, MTN Group's subsidiary merged with
Belgacom International Carrier Services (BICS), a subsidiary of
Belgacom
The Proximus Group is a provider of digital services and communication in Belgium and the international markets. In Belgium, its main products and services are offered under the Proximus, Scarlet, and Mobile Vikings brands. The Group is also ac ...
. The combined subsidiary functioned as the international gateway for carrier services of MTN.
In October 2012, MTN announced a partnership with
Afrihost
Afrihost is a South African Internet Service Provider (ISP) providing a number of services, including ADSL broadband, fibre, fixed wireless, mobile services and web hosting. A proposed merger with Cool Ideas, another ISP, has been approved by ...
to provide
DSL
Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...
Broadband services in Africa.
In November 2012, South African
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
Shanduka Group
Shanduka Group was a South African investment holding company that had interests in extractive resources, telecommunications, food and beverage, property, financial services, energy, and industrial sectors. It was founded by the current South Afric ...
acquired a minority stake in MTN Group's Nigeria business for $335 million.
In 2014, MTN was named on the 2014 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand rankings and named the Most Admired and Most Valuable Brand in Africa.
MTN retained its ranking as the Most Admired and the Most Valuable African brand in 2015.
In March 2016, the company appointed Rob Shuter as
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...
. Shutter was replaced on 1 September 2020 when
Ralph Mupita was appointed Chief Executive.
MTN Ghana IPO
On 31 May 2018, MTN Ghana launched its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO closed on 31 July 2019. A total of up to 4,637,394,533 ordinary shares of MTN Ghana, representing 35% of its equity was offered to qualifying applicants. This was part of the agreement between MTN Ghana and Ghana's
National Communications Authority
The National Communications Authority of Ghana is the Government of Ghana agency responsible for the licensing of media houses and organizations in Ghana.
The non-Executive Board Chairman is Kwaku Sakyi-Addo.
See also
* List of telecommunica ...
(NCA) in November, 2015 for MTN Ghana to deploy 4G LTE mobile services to its customers in Ghana. Among other methods of payments, MTN
mobile money
A mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device, as the cardinal class of ...
was included as a payment option for the MTN share offer subscription. This was the first time mobile money had been used as a payment method in an IPO. The current CEO of MTN Ghana is Mr.
Selorm Adadevoh.
MTN Shuts Down Stores
On February 23, 2017, Nigerian protestors attacked a MTN office in
Abuja,
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
as a counterattack due to violence targeted against Nigerians in South Africa.
In September 2019 MTN began closing stores in Nigeria and some of their stores in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
due to rioting, looting, and attacks on some of their facilities.
Geoffrey Onyeama
Geoffrey Jideofor Kwusike Onyeama (born 2 February 1956) is Nigeria's Minister for Foreign Affairs. Onyeama was appointed Foreign Affairs Minister of Nigeria in November 2015 by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Early life and education
Onyeama was ...
the Nigerian Foreign Minister stated at a press briefing on September 4, 2019, that MTN group along with Shoprite, stated that the targeted South African stores in Nigeria are "subsidiaries that are owned by Nigerians." And that "the property owned by Nigerians within Nigeria and the people working there are Nigerians."
Lai Mohammed
Layiwola "Lai" Mohammed (born 6 December 1951) is a Nigerian lawyer and politician. He is currently the Minister of Information and Culture, a position he has held since November 2015. He is also the former National publicity secretary of the ...
, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture, reported that some of the South African companies that were attacked in Nigeria have Nigerian investors owning significant amounts of stakes, and Nigerian employees.
MTN has stated that they will continue to do business in Nigeria.
Services
In March 2019 MTN launched a
WhatsApp
WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows use ...
channel to let its customers buy airtime and data bundles through the messaging app. Customers can also check their balances and store their credit or
debit cards in the app for future purchases. The service is provided by another South African company that has a global reach, Clickatell, which is a WhatsApp Business Solution provider.
Cyprus branch re-branding
MTN sold its
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
branch to
Monaco Telecom
Monaco Telecom is the main telecommunications provider in the Principality of Monaco. The company was founded in 1997 following a decision by the government of Monaco to privatize the state-owned Office Monégasque des Téléphones.
Intern ...
for €260 million in July 2018. It was later re-branded as Epic in June 2019.
In December 2019, former Deputy Finance Minister of the
Government of South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa.
Executive authority ...
,
Mcebisi Jonas
Mcebisi Hubert Jonas (born 1960) is a former Deputy Finance Minister of the Government of South Africa who served from 2014 to 2016. He has also been a Member of the Executive Council for Economic Development and Environmental Affairs in the Ea ...
, was appointed as the board chairperson of the company.
Middle East exodus
In August 2020, MTN decided to sell its shares in
Syria,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
and
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, and to divest its 49% minority holding in
Irancell
Irancell is an Iranian telecommunications company that operates Iran's largest 2G-3G-4G-4.5G-5G mobile network, and fixed wireless TD-LTE internet services. It is the first provider of 5G internet in Iran. As of 2013, Irancell holds a revenue of ...
over time. The company's decision was based on the fact that their assets in the Middle East contributed less than 4% to group earnings in the first half of the year.
Sale of stake in Jumia
On October 30, 2020, MTN made public the sale of their shares in the e-commerce brand
Jumia
Jumia is a Pan-African technology company that is built around a marketplace, logistics service and Payment service provider, payment service. The logistics service enables the delivery of packages through a network of local partners while the p ...
. The sale was worth 142.31 million dollars.
MTN Mastercard Collaboration
In February 2021, the MTN Group partnered with
Mastercard to ensure safe and secure global e-commerce payments of their customer base in 16 African countries. A Mastercard virtual payment platform that is linked to MTN MoMo (Mobile Money) wallets makes this possible.
Mobile Money spin-off
In March 2021, MTN CEO
Ralph Mupita announced during the company's annual results call that the group was now considering spinning off its mobile money activities. "We see a separation and carve out of our fintech business as something that we have to do”. In April 2021, he estimated the value of the group's mobile money arm to at least US$5 to 6 billion.
Technology
MTN South Africa provides
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
,
UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...
,
HSPA+ (21.1 Mbit/s),
HSUPA
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunic ...
(42 Mbit/s, 2100 MHz),
VOIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
,
3G,
4G,
LTE and
5G services. On 1 December 2011, MTN became the second cellular provider to introduce
4G and LTE in South Africa They were also the first network operator in South Africa to launch a live public 5G network available in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
and
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
On 30 June 2020
Coverage
MTN acquired Investcom, mainly under the Areeba and Spacetel brands.
As of Q4 2018, MTN is active in:
SuperSonic
Supersonic is an
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
that was founded in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
in 2018 by MTN Group in to provide
FTTH
Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber op ...
(Fibre) Internet services to South African consumers. SuperSonic is owned by MTN Group.
Supersonic provides Fibre through most Service Providers including
OpenServe
Telkom SA SOC Limited is a South African wireline and wireless telecommunications provider, operating in more than 38 countries across the African continent. Telkom is majority state-owned (55.3%) with the South African government owning 40 ...
and
Vumatel
Vumatel is a South African Licensed Infrastructure service provider, installing FTTH infrastructure throughout South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bo ...
. SuperSonic also offers “Air Fibre”, a
5G Based Mobile data service introduced in February 2021.
In July 2021, they were fourth from the bottom of a list of 16 big ISP's that were rated.
Sponsorships
MTN Group sponsored the
CAF Champions League football competition, as well as
APOEL FC
APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...
, winners of the
Cypriot First Division
The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...
in
2009,
2011,
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
and
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, and participants in the
2009–10 and
2011–12 UEFA Champions League.
On 18 March 2010, it was announced that MTN signed a
sponsorship
Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...
deal with English football club
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, ...
Since 2017, MTN Group is the primary sponsor of the
South Africa national rugby union team
The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jerse ...
.
Controversies
Iran
MTN has been criticised for its activities in Iran's
telecommunications sector. MTN has a 49 percent stake in government-controlled
MTN Irancell, the second-largest mobile phone operator in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, and 21 percent of MTN's subscriber base is from the country. In January 2012, the US-based advocacy group
United Against Nuclear Iran
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a bi-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization in the United States. Its stated objective is to "prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons." Along wi ...
(UANI) launched a campaign publicly calling for MTN to scale back its operations in Iran and end its business in the country. UANI alleges that MTN technology is "enabling the Iranian government to locate and track individual cellphone users which it says is a violation of users' human rights".
In June 2012,
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
reported an allegation by Chris Kilowan, a former executive for the company in Iran, that MTN Group may have been complicit in securing American telecommunications technology from
on behalf of Irancell, in violation of trade sanctions against Iran.
, which owns Sun Microsystems, said that it was investigating and denied involvement, saying that it complies with US export laws. Hewlett-Packard issued a similar statement. MTN Group denied the allegations, saying that it complied with
.
filed a $4.2 billion lawsuit in Washington, D.C., in 2012 alleging the company used bribery to win a mobile licence in Iran that was first awarded to Turkcell. The court delayed the case in October 2012 pending a
law on which Turkcell's suit is based. In May 2013,
ruling that hurt its case. On 27 November 2013, Turkcell resumed in Johannesburg.
(NCC) for partial compliance of regulatory guidelines to Mobile Network Operators to disconnect from their network, all improperly registered Subscribers Identification Modules (SIM). The commission exercised section 20(1) of the Telephone Subscribers regulation (TSR) law on MTN, leading to a calculated fine of $5.2 billion, according to the constitution.
The
carried out by the NCC on MTN network revealed unregistered 5.2 million customers lines were not deactivated as directed. This led to the NCC fining MTN with the sum of $1000 for each unregistered SIM according to the Telephone Subscribers regulation (TSR) law, which amounted to $5.2bn.
What followed was major resignations among the top echelon of the organization including the chief executive officer, Sifiso Dabengwa, the Head of Nigeria Operation, Micheal Ikpoki and the Head of Cooperate Affairs, Akinwale Goodluck being replaced with Phuthuma Nhleko, Ferdi Moolman and Amina Oyegbola as new chairman, managing director and Head of Corporate and Regulation respectively.
The new management employed a diplomatic measure between the government of the
and its Nigerian counterpart to ameliorate the burden of the liabilities from the fine. This action brought about the reduction of the liability to $3.2 billion.
In September 2021, MTN announced that it will close its zero-rated access to the popular social network
. As of early 2022, MTN has had poor internet connection throughout the country, the cause is still unknown.