MTN Group records $357m loss; blames Nigerian fine

MTN Group has reported a 4.9 billion rand ($357 million) loss for 6 months of operations. This is in sharp contrast to headline earnings of almost 12 billion rand ($874 million) a year earlier. The company blames the hefty fine largely for its woes and its underperformance in its South African home market.

The telecom giant said in Johannesburg that the company agreed in June to pay a 330 billion Naira ($1.05 billion) fine in a settlement with Nigerian regulatory body for missing a deadline to cut off unregistered SIM cards from its network.

Group revenue increased 14,0% to R78 878 million ($5 756 million) for the six-month period. This was positively impacted by the average exchange rate movement of the rand against the Naira when compared to the previous corresponding period.
Group subscriber numbers also remained flat at 232,6 million following 6,6 million subscriber disconnections over the six month period in Nigeria, Uganda and Cameroon. Since October 2015 approximately 18 million subscribers across the Group were disconnected to ensure compliance with the subscriber registration processes.

The company also aims to list MTN Nigeria on The Nigerian Stock Exchange by next year.