Karl Toriola - Afrikan Heroes

MTN Hopeful Nigeria Will Renew its Licence Soon

August 5, 2021

Africa’s biggest telecoms operator MTN has said that it is expectant that the Nigerian authorities will renew its application for a 10 year licence renewal soon. The telco through its Nigerian subsidiary, MTN Nigeria was reported to have encountered delay in processing its licence renewal with the regulatory agency, the Nigeria’s Communication Commission (NCC) as the agency notes that the telcos application was still undergoing regulatory processing.

It could be recalled that early this year, MTN Nigeria announced that it was at an “advanced stage” in renewing its operating spectrum and licence from September. This spectrum encompasses the company’s data network and telecom coverage in Africa’s most populous country and largest economy.

The NCC has said that recent online media reports stating that the telco’s application for its licence renewal had already been granted are false. The NCC released a statement saying that;

“The Commission wishes to state that while MTN Nigeria has applied for the renewal of the Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) granted to it by the Commission, the application is yet to be approved as it is still undergoing required regulatory processes,” NCC said in a statement.

Despite its licence yet to be renewed, the telco has experienced increased revenues in the country across the first half of 2021.

MTN Nigeria Reports Increased Earnings Despite Significant Subscriber Loss

On 30 July 2021, MTN Nigeria released its unaudited results for the half-year ended June as the telco celebrates its 20th anniversary. The results show that its mobile subscriptions had declined by 7.6-million to 68.9-million.

Subscriptions had been significantly impacted by regulatory restrictions on new SIM sales and activations.

The impact of the industry-wide suspension of new SIM registrations was partially mitigated by higher usage in the company’s active SIM base, as well as the firm’s migration to “higher quality experience,” the telco says.

Despite losses in subscribers, the firm reported a 27.6% increase in half-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), despite its sharp decline in subscriptions.

The CEO of MTN Nigeria said, in terms of the future, the operator is planning to invest N600-billion ($1.5-billion) over the next three years to expand broadband access across Nigeria.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

MTN Nigeria Records Improve Revenue Despite SIM Sales Ban

August 3, 2021

MTN Group’s Nigerian unit has reported a 27.6% increase in half-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), despite a sharp decline in subscribers brought about by regulatory restrictions on new Sim sales and activations.

Mobile subscribers declined by 7.6 million to 68.9 million. Despite this, service revenue was up by 24.1% to ₦790.3-billion in the six-month period to 30 June 2021. Ebitda came in at ₦417.2-billion, with the margin improving by 1.4 percentage points to 52.7%.

The regulatory Sim restrictions were lifted on 19 April, though the addition of subscribers since then has been slower than usual “due to new process requirements”.

MTN says it anticipates growth to normalise in the short term as more of our acquisition centres are certified for Sim registration.

Service revenue grew by 24.1% year on year, driven by the sustained growth in data and partly due to the lower base in comparative 2020 voice revenue that resulted from lockdowns during that period, it said.

“Voice revenue grew by 13.1%, benefiting from an 11.8% increase in traffic and our customer value management initiatives. The impact on voice revenue from the industry-wide suspension of new Sim registration was partly offset by higher usage in our active Sim base as well as migration to a higher quality of experience.”

Data revenue jumped by 48.3%, helped by increased customer usage and supported by the acceleration of its 4G roll-out and access to additional spectrum at 800MHz. Data traffic rose by 83% year on year, while smartphone penetration was up by 5.8 percentage points to 49.3%. “Our 4G network now covers 65.1% of the population, up from 60.1% in December 2020.”

Fintech revenue rose by 48.2%, driven by increased adoption of Xtratime and the company’s core fintech services. Registered Mobile Money agents increased by 121 000 in the first half of 2021 to reach 515 000. Transaction volume increased by 281% year on year, with the active MoMo subscriber base now more than 6.1 million, up 180% year on year.

Capital expenditure in the six-month period was up by 39.1% to ₦186.4-billion. The company declared a dividend of ₦4.55-kobo/share, up 30% on a year ago.

The company’s CEO, Karl Toriola, also announced plans to build a new head office in Nigeria.

“In line with our desire to plant deeper and more permanent roots in Nigeria, we have initiated plans to commission a purpose-built, state-of-the-art MTN head office, designed to act as a central hub for our network, a catalyst for creativity and innovation, and a showcase for the flexible working structures that are driving efficiency gains in this new normal working environment,” Toriola said.

“Aligned with our wider commitment to environmental sustainability, it will meet the highest global environmental standards, demonstrating the role of green technology in our future.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

MTN Nigeria Poised for Fintech Leadership

May 5, 2021

Africa’s Nigeria’s leading telecoms provider, MTN Nigeria is poised to become a fintech leader with the progress it is making towards increment in the data, digital, and fintech revenue even as voice revenue growth remains tepid. The telcos recently released a financial report for the first quarter of 2021, showing strong performance despite losing five million customers.

It could be recalled that in August 2019, MTN launched its mobile money business, MoMo, in Nigeria. Its competitors are companies like OPay and Paga, both of which have talked up some impressive figures at different times.

OPay has claimed to have over 300,000 agents and said that in December 2020, it processed $2 billion in payments. In comparison, MoMo’s progress has been overlooked by observers and analysts.

A recent policy by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) suspended the registration of new SIM cards. This suspension meant that as telecoms operators like MTN lost subscribers through churn, they could not add new customers. Active data users also declined marginally by 71,000 to 32.5 million.

Despite the decline, MTN still showed strong performance in Q1 as Profit before tax grew by 33.9% to N102.9 billion. Karl Toriola, the company’s CEO, summarised the performance perfectly, “We made good progress in the first quarter of 2021 despite the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

As voice revenue continues to slow down, data revenue is thought to be the future for telecoms companies, and by MTN’s Q1 results, that future looks bright. Data revenue brought in around 36.4% of total revenue.

Data contributes massively because of a corresponding increase in how people are using data. MTN recorded an 86.7% increase in data traffic and a 48.5% increase in usage (MB per user) from the existing base.

MTN has expanded its 4G coverage to about 61.8% of the population but what’s more interesting is that in Q1, it added 1.2 million smartphones to its network. 47.5% of the company’s customers now use smartphones.

It is easy to see why analysts say that data revenue is the future when you consider that less than 47.5% of its customer base contributes over 35% to its total revenue. When smartphone penetration moves to the region of 70%, data revenue could grow even more significant. But data revenue isn’t the only thing that is growing, with MTN showing real promise in its fintech efforts.

In Q1, the number of MoMo agents increased by 54,000 to 449,146. The volume of transactions processed was over 24 million in the quarter, up more than four times YoY, from an active base of 4.6 million subscribers.

While the number of agents is hardly the best mark of progress since agents serve many masters, its transaction volume, which is verified by auditors, is likely to be one of the more accurate figures we will see in the space.

On the back of that, fintech revenue rose by 28.5% and MTN said that the pandemic accelerated the adoption of MoMo. Digital revenue from mobile advertising, MusicTime and instant messaging grew by 101.0% despite the fact that the number of active digital users remained flat at 2.8 million.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

MTN Nigeria Acquires Additional 800MHz Spectrum

March 13, 2021

As the quest for its broadband penetration gains traction, Africa’s leading telco, the Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) through its Nigerian subsidiary has acquired an additional 10MHz spectrum in the 800MHz band from Intercellular Nigeria Limited. This acquisition was completed with the final approval from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which assigned the frequency. MTN said this acquisition will significantly improve its customer experience.

“Through this acquisition, we will be better positioned to support the deepening of broadband penetration in the country,” says Karl Toriola, CEO of MTN Nigeria.

“The added resources will also greatly impact our customers’ experience providing even better internet connectivity. It is our goal to keep finding ways to grant everyone access to modern connected life.”

It could be recalled that the MTN Group announced recently, the addition of 29 Million Subscribers Despite a Challenging 2020 to reach a total of 280 million across 21 markets. The group also reported a 52% increase in adjusted headline earnings per share, a four percentage point increase in return on equity to 17% and a more than doubling in operating cash flow to R28,3 billion.

“We continued to perform favourably against our medium-term targets,” says MTN President and CEO, Ralph Mupita. “In constant currency terms, service revenue grew 11,9% to R170 billion and EBITDA increased by 13,4%, maintaining our strong operating leverage. The Group’s EBITDA margin improved by 0,9pp to 42,7%, benefiting from the execution of our expense efficiency programme.”

The solid results were supported by growth in MTN’s larger operations as well as a broad-based improvement across all regions. As well as managing the risks of COVID-19, the telco is reportedly alive to the opportunities presented by the pandemic – particularly the accelerated need for digitalisation evidenced in the greater adoption and usage of MTN services.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

MTN embarks on major management reshuffle, Appoints New CEO, Risk Officer

October 27, 2020

Africa’s largest telecoms company, MTN Group has embarked on major management reshuffle across its operations in Africa starting with the appointment of Karl Toriola, current Vice President of MTN Group’s West and Central Africa (WECA) region, as the new CEO of MTN Nigeria – effective 1 March 2021. Toriola will take over as MTN Nigeria CEO from Ferdi Moolman, who has served MTN Nigeria with distinction in this role for the past five years. Moolman will return to South Africa, where he will assume the new role of Group Chief Risk Officer.

Toriola has a BSc Hons in Electronic and Electrical Engineering and an MSc in Communication Systems. In his five years as VP of MTN’s WECA region, he has overseen the steady progress of the operating companies in the region, notably the turnaround of MTN Ivory Coast and MTN Cameroon over the past two years. In addition, the WECA markets have made significant commercial and strategic strides, including the improvement of market share and the development of mobile financial services. The latter in particular is an important driver of the group’s medium- to long-term growth strategy.

Since joining the group in 2006, Toriola has also held a number of senior operational roles at MTN, including chief technical officer of MTN Nigeria and CEO of MTN Cameroon. He is also a board member on a number of companies within the group, including MTN Nigeria. His successor for VP of WECA will be announced after the group strategy review is completed by the end of November 2020.

“Karl brings extensive technical and commercial experience, as well as a deep understanding of the Nigeria market to the role,” says MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita.

“Karl started his MTN career in his home country at MTN Nigeria 14 years’ ago and has all the attributes necessary to lead this very important business into the future.”

Ferdi Moolman who has been appointed as the Group Chief Risk Officer, a new Executive Committee (exco) position – effective from 1 March 2021 joined MTN in 2002 and has held several senior positions within the group in Nigeria and in Iran. He has spent the past five years as the CEO of MTN Nigeria and, as its CFO prior to that. During that time, the company says that significant progress has been made in stabilising the business and setting it on a sustainable growth path. That’s why the management of enterprise-wide risk is integral to MTN’s growth strategy.

Moolman will bring extensive operational and financial experience to the role given his deep knowledge of the MTN Group, its markets and the telecoms sector. He will remain on the board of MTN Nigeria and will in due course be appointed to other material subsidiary boards given his new group responsibility. “Ferdi has been an exemplary leader of MTN Nigeria and has put the business on a sound growth platform for the future,” says MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita.

“He brings significant strategic, financial and operational experience to the new group risk role, where we want to ensure that our enterprise-wide risk management systems are continuously strengthened and remain resilient as we drive our growth strategy.”

Also, the telco appointed Rahul De – current CMO of MTN Nigeria – to CEO of its operations in Liberia – starting 1 November. replaces Uche Ofodile who departed Lonestar Cell MTN in July to become the CEO of MTN Benin. With 23 years of experience in the telco space, ranging across multiple geographies, De has spent the last two decades in senior leadership roles driving growth and leading business transformation.

“I would like to congratulate Rahul on his appointment,” says Mupita. “Rahul is a seasoned leader renowned for driving innovative digital and FinTech advancement in our business and in the telecommunications industry.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

MTN Swaps CEO’s Across Cameroon, Benin and Liberia

July 5, 2020

To strengthen and drive its innovations in response to competition, Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) has swapped CEO’s across three African countries. The countries are Benin, Cameroon, and Liberia. With the new development, the CEO of MTN Benin will move to Cameroon, while the CEO of MTN Liberia will take over at Benin.

Stephen Blewett will now be Country CEO in charge of operations in Cameroon, and with this appointment, Blewett who presently heads MTN operations in Benin Republic, will now move to Cameroon to manage the Group’s larger business in the central African country. Blewett who is vastly experienced in the field of telecoms was formerly CEO of Altech Autopage Cellular, will take the helm in Cameroon on 1 August when Uche Ofodile, the current CEO of MTN Liberia, will become the CEO of the Benin business.

“Under Stephen’s leadership, MTN Benin recorded double digit revenue growth for three years running,” said Karl Toriola, vice president for MTN’s West and Central Africa region, in a statement. “Uche leaves a business with double digit year-on-year revenue growth, enjoying a nine-point market share improvement against its competitor.”

Blewett’s time in Benin has not been without incident. In 2017, he was ordered by the government to leave the West African country Blewett has been CEO of MTN Benin, an operation of 5.5 million subscribers, for the past five years. His time in Benin has not been without incident. In 2017, he was ordered by the government to leave the West African country. This was after it emerged that the telecommunications regulator there was claiming US$213-million in spectrum fees. The dispute was subsequently resolved and Blewett returned to the country — but only six months after he was expelled.

Karl Toriola, vice president for MTN’s West and Central Africa

In Cameroon, Blewett will replace Hendrik Kasteel, who left MTN Group in March. Since then, MTN Cameroon chief financial officer Ebenezer Bodylawson has been acting CEO, steering the operation of more than 10 million subscribers. Ofodile joined MTN in 2018. Since then, she has repositioned MTN Liberia as a competitive player in the market and grown its customer base to 1.45 million, the group said.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry