MTN - The African Mirror

Oct

15

2023

Safaricom’s ‘Lipa Na M-pesa’ model comes to South Africa – courtesy of MTN

BUSINESS

MTN has unveiled MoMoBusiness wallet, a suite of payment solutions to tap into the growing demand for cashless transactions in the South African market. Through its wallet, businesses can settle bills, salaries, and suppliers, collect bulk payments, access financial services such as loans and savings, and create invoices. "Businesses can accept payments directly from customers for transactions on everything from prepaid services to shopping vouchers, completely fee-free. Flexible cash-out options ensure easy access to funds, providing both convenience and security in financial management," said MTN SA Chief Financial Services Officer Bradwin Roper. "Within MTN stores, new point-of-sale devices will also…

Sep

27

2023

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Africa’s telcos race to replace plastic SIM cards with virtual versions

NEWS

AFRICA’s telcos have begun an aggressive push to replace traditional plastic Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards with virtual alternatives to tap into the fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) market. MTN and Airtel are the latest to expand this offering to their subscribers in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. In the past month, MTN South Africa has expanded access to eSIMs to all its subscribers and signed a long-term contract with global IoT connectivity solutions provider, Eseye, to help the telco standardise a global eSIM and IoT platform offering. “Our strategic partnership with Eseye will enable us to sell diverse IoT…

Jun

15

2023

By AMINDEH BLAISE ATABONG

MTN says asset seizure in Cameroon threatens operations

NEWS

SOUTH African mobile operator MTN Group said that its Cameroon operations were threatened by the seizure of its bank accounts in the country as part of a dispute in which it plays no part. MTN Cameroon's accounts with more than 14 billion CFA francs ($22 million) have been frozen by a Cameroon court order since September 2022, as the company was brought into a loan dispute by a Cameroonian businessman, MTN said. Following a court decision on June 9, the funds were to be transferred into an escrow account managed by the court registrar, MTN Cameroon CEO Mitwa Ng'ambi told a…

Feb

16

2023

By The African Mirror

MTN commits to $1 bln Ghana investment after government scraps tax claim

BUSINESS

MTN Group will invest $1 billion in Ghana over the next five years, the mobile operator said, after the government exempted its Ghanaian unit from tax claims worth about $773 million. The investment comes on the heels of the Ghana Revenue Authority exempting the company's bill for back taxes earlier this month after the incident sparked a diplomatic reaction by the South African foreign minister. The tax claim was initially issued after the revenue authority audited the company for the years 2014 to 2018 and inferred that it under declared its revenue by about 30% during the period. MTN Chief Executive Officer Ralph…

Jan

29

2023

By The African Mirror

$77-millin tax dispute: SA calls on MTN, Ghana to resolve

BUSINESS

SOUTH Africa's foreign minister Naledi Pandor called on mobile operator MTN Group and the Ghana Revenue Authority to find a solution to a $773 million tax dispute. Earlier this month MTN said the Ghana Revenue Authority issued the company's subsidiary MTN Ghana with a bill for back taxes after auditing it for the years 2014 to 2018 and inferring that it had under-declared its revenue by about 30% during the period. MTN, which has a presence in 19 countries in Africa and the Middle East, said at the time that it disputed the "accuracy and basis" of the assessment and that it would fight…

Oct

20

2022

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s Telkom says bigger rival MTN has terminated buyout talks

BUSINESS

SOUTH African mobile operator Telkom said on Wednesday bigger rival MTN Group had terminated talks to buy the former in what would have created the country's biggest telecoms company. Telkom said it could not offer MTN assurances to enter into exclusive talks sought by the country's second-biggest telecoms service provider. MTN said in a separate statement that the companies were unable to reach an agreement on a deal. In July, MTN had offered to buy its smaller rival in a stock or cash-and-shares deal. But a month later, data network provider rain, partly owned by South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe, proposed a merger with…

Jan

08

2021

By The African Mirror

Telecoms towers burnt in S.A by 5G protesters

NEWS

ABOUT three telecommunications towers belonging to Vodacom and MTN were burnt this week following a resurgence in conspiracy theories which link the emergence of COVID-19 to 5G technology, South Africa's communication minister has said. The towers were burnt and destroyed between Tuesday and Wednesday this week in KwaZulu-Natal province, the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said in a statement and also urged police to arrest those responsible "for this anarchy". "It is regrettable that the much-needed network infrastructure is being destroyed ... mobile telephony is crucial in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic," she said. There was…

Sep

04

2020

By The African Mirror

Ghana court dismisses MTN’s challenge against market regulator

BUSINESS

A high court in Ghana has dismissed the local MTN unit’s challenge to a move by the national telecommunications regulator aimed at exposing it to greater competition, the company said on Thursday. In June, MTN appealed a decision by the National Communications Authority (NCA) to designate it a significant market power, a move that requires the regulator to take corrective action. But in a Sept. 1 decision, the court “dismissed the company’s application,” MTN said in a statement. It said it maintained its position that the NCA’s decision was unfair from a procedural standpoint and would “explore all available options…

Dec

22

2020

By The African Mirror

MTN racing against time to keep up to 30-million Nigerian users from being cut off

BUSINESS

MTN, one of African biggest cellular service providers, is racing against time to ensure that its database complies with Nigerian law so as to prevent up to 30 million subscribers from being cut off. The Nigerian government has stopped the sale of new sim cards and instructed telecommunication companies to ensure that all the active sim cards are linked to an identity number. All sim cards that are not linked with a nine-digit Nigerian ID number by December 31 will be cut off. And that is not the end of trouble for cellular phone companies. The Nigerian authorities have warned…

Dec

18

2020

By The African Mirror

MTN could complete Nigerian sim card order within six months – executive

BUSINESS

MTN could be compliant with Nigeria’s order that telecommunications firms add valid National Identification Numbers (NIN) to all registered sim cards within six months, while a ban on sales of new sim cards was unlikely to last that long, executives said. The current and incoming CEOs of MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman and Karl Toriola, made the comments on a call to brief investors on the change after Nigerian regulators made the announcement earlier this week, giving the industry a two week deadline to complete the task.