MTN Ghana working to minimize impact of coronavirus on expansion programmes

MTN Ghana says it has taken the necessary steps and is working with its vendors to ensure that the impact of the coronavirus on its capacity expansion programmes, both on the IT and network sides, are minimized.

Addressing stakeholders at the Facts behind the Figures programme organized by the Ghana Stock Exchange, Mr Selorm Adadevoh said, MTN Ghana placed a lot of orders for equipment early in the year and expressed the hope that even if there are delays it would not significantly impact operations.

“In terms of the coronavirus, it is one of the top risks we are looking at today. The big risk is about the supply chain. Every year we continue to expand our capacity from the IT side as well as on the network side.”

“We do flag it as a risk but we are doing everything possible in our power so we can ensure that the impact of any delays is minimal on our business,” Mr Adadevoh said.

He said MTN would continue to work with other suppliers as well, the people side, to make sure that their own processes to manage the coronavirus are tight to ensure that the companies mitigation strategies were confirmed.

Mr Adadevoh said the company was focusing on its ‘Bright strategy’ to enhance growth by focusing on improving customer experience, driving growth in the digital portfolio, focus on the mobile money business and voice.

“We are excited by what the future presents looking and our plans to grow the digital business, the traditional business such as MoMo and the enterprise business,” he said, adding that the company was on track to meet its medium target of 13 to 15 per cent annual growth over the next two to three years.

Overall, MTN Service revenue increased by 22.8 per cent year-on-year to 5.1 billion cedis, underpinned by growth in revenue from voice, data and Mobile Money (MoMo).

Voice Revenue was up 19.4 per cent at 2.3 billion cedis, driven by an increase in the number of active subscribers, the benefits of various customer value management initiatives and pro-consumer activity, as well as continued improvements to the network.

Data revenue’s contribution was up 32.5 per cent at 1.5 billion cedis while Mobile Money revenue grew 28.0 per cent to 1.0 billion cedis led by an increase in the number of active subscribers, commissions on cash-in-cash-out transactions, increased transactional activity of person-to-person (P2P) transactions as well as good growth in more advanced services – such as retail merchant payments.

On the regulatory front, Mr Adadevoh said, MTN has renewed its 2G licence for 15 years, saying the move is in line with the company’s future expansion plans once it acquires a Universal Access License.

There are also plans to get a dedicated Electronic Money Issuer License in line with the Payment System Act to expand mobile money services.

Mr Adadevoh said the company has plans to roll out more ultra-rural site in addition to the over 400 rural sites it has completed.