MTN: Ugandan unit to lift revenue 12%

MTN Uganda expected its 2014 revenues to grow up to 12 percent, boosted by its mobile money and data businesses, chief executive Mazen Mroué said yesterday. The Ugandan unit of MTN would spend 150 billion Ugandan shillings (R621 million) this year to expand its high-speed internet infrastructure, underpinning its focus on the data market. Uganda has seven telecoms firms serving its 34.5 million people, according to the Uganda Communications Commission. The economy, now growing at 6 percent a year, has rocketed in the past decade. “Our revenue projection is to continue growing in double digits,” Mroué said. “We’re talking between 10 percent and 12 percent overall growth in 2014 from 2013.” MTN Uganda estimates that it controls 55 percent of the market and expects its subscribers to hit 10 million by the end of 2014 from 9.5 million in March. MTN expected to expand the number of data subscribers to 3 million by the end of 2014 from 2.6 million at the end of last year. Mobile penetration in the Ugandan market stands at 44 percent, offering room for service providers to expand fast, although competition has eroded margins since 2010 and encouraged some players to sell up. Mroué said MTN Uganda’s average revenue per user, a key industry standard, had hovered between $3 (R32) and $4.5 since 2010 when competition picked up, from about $6 before. – Reuters