MTN said its Capex (capital spending) increased 18 percent to R10852 million or $852 million in the six months ended 30 June 2015.

The focus of its investment was on improving network quality, increasing capacity and expanding the footprint of 3G, LTE and fiber networks. MTN rolled out 1335 2G, 5048 largely co-located 3G and 2475 LTE sites as well as 722 km of fiber.

Thanks to investment by MTN, data revenue increased 21.3 percent to R15412 million in H1 of 2015. The company said data usage increased 87 percent. Data’s contribution to total revenue was 22.3 percent. MTN South Africa and MTN Nigeria accounted for 69.7 percent of MTN Group’s total data revenue.

Voice traffic grew 11.2 percent and data traffic increased 87 percent.

MTN subscribers increased 3.4 percent to 231 million.

Revenue decreased 4.9 percent to R69210 million or $5.43 billion. Movements in the majority of the Group’s operational currencies against the rand negatively impacted performance.

Lower voice tariffs — declined 25.3 percent together with lower termination rates and pressure on consumer spending negatively impacted voice revenue growth resulting in a 4.9 percent decline in total revenue, said MTN.

Key initiatives of MTN include:

# The continued rollout of Project Next!, with the completion in Cameroon expected September 2015 and Benin and Management companies to be completed by year end;
# Implementation of an integrated charging system under a managed services platform, enabling access to skilled resources and end-to-end accountability;
# Leveraging global procurement and expediting time to market.

“We will increase data revenue by encouraging uptake through increased smartphone penetration and new pricing strategies. We will also continue to create a distinct customer experience through investing in our networks to support data growth and improving value and segmentation offers,” said MTN in a statement.

Over the past six months the Group focused on improving its business structure to facilitate non-voice revenue growth.

Mobile Money subscribers of MTN rose 45.8 percent to 32.4 million.

Baburajan K
[email protected]