Skip to main content

Africa’s Largest Wireless Carrier MTN to Exit Middle East



MTN Group Ltd. plans to exit the Middle East as Africa’s biggest wireless carrier changes focus to its home continent.


The Middle East “environment is becoming increasingly complex and it contributes less to the group’s earnings,” Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter said Thursday.

The South African operator is used to working in certain risky markets, which in some instances has left it vulnerable to legal entanglements, unpredictable politics and regulatory crackdowns. In Iran, the company has been involved in a years-long legal battle over a telecom license, although no claims have succeeded. In Afghanistan, MTN moved to get claims dismissed that it was involved with payments to the Taliban to protect its infrastructure.

The Middle East “environment is becoming increasingly complex and it contributes less to the group’s earnings,” Chief Executive Officer Rob Shuter said Thursday.

The South African operator is used to working in certain risky markets, which in some instances has left it vulnerable to legal entanglements, unpredictable politics and regulatory crackdowns. In Iran, the company has been involved in a years-long legal battle over a telecom license, although no claims have succeeded. In Afghanistan, MTN moved to get claims dismissed that it was involved with payments to the Taliban to protect its infrastructure.

Phased Disposal

The disposals will be done in a phased manner, with its three consolidated subsidiaries in Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria earmarked to be sold first. These markets only contribute about 4% to the group’s earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortization, said Shuter on a call with reporters. Talks to sell the 75% shareholding in MTN Syria are advanced, he said.

In the medium term the group will also dispose of its 49% stake in MTN Irancell, one of its largest markets. The disposal will take three to five years, “so it will not be a fire-sale process,” Shuter said. Exiting the entire Middle East portfolio will leave MTN with 17 markets in Africa.

MTN has been on a drive to dispose of assets to generate cash to reduce debt. It has managed to make 15 billion rand ($867 million) with disposals and aims to realize a further 25 billion rand over the next three to five years, the group said as it reported first-half results on Thursday.

Adjusted earnings per share for the six months through June were up 121% at 4.30 rand.

The shares were 1% down at 59.53 rand by 2:53 p.m. in Johannesburg on Thursday, valuing the company at 112 billion rand.

The Johannesburg-based company is also evaluating its stake in Jumia Technologies and IHS Towers, said Shuter, who will step down in March. His successor is still to be announced.

“We have been aiming for a sensible evolution and continuation of the strategy that we have been working on in the past few years, while making space for the incoming CEO to make their own mark in terms of how they want to position the company,” said Shuter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Adam Can Be The DCEU’s Wolverine

The upcoming Black Adam movie could position its title character as DC's equivalent to Wolverine. Though Black Adam has taken quite a long time to get rolling, the first day of DC FanDome gave a peak at what audiences can expect, from name-dropping several Justice Society of America members who make appearances to Dwayne Johnson stressing the harsh origins of the title character. Johnson's description of Black Adam himself also may offer a sense of just what role he'll occupy in the world of the DCEU. Johnson would place particular emphasis on Black Adam having been a slave who achieves his freedom after being granted power from the gods and who now seeks to unleash his own brand of justice on the world. Aside from the moral ambiguity of Black Adam, Johnson has also repeatedly spoken of him as a game-changing figure in the DCEU with the power level that he operates at. Meanwhile, with the way Black Adam is being presented as a character, he could carry some notable parallel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Epic Games asks court to stop Apple's 'retaliation' after App Store ban

Epic Games said late on Friday that it has asked a court to stop what it saw as Apple Inc's retaliation against the "Fortnite" creator after the iPhone maker terminated Epic Games' account on its App Store. Epic Games filed for a preliminary injunction that would put its game back in the App Store and restore its developer account. The filing was made in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. It argued that Epic Games is "likely to suffer irreparable harm" in the absence of a preliminary injunction and that "the balance of harms tips sharply in Epic's favor". The filing described the iPhone maker as a "monopolist" that maintains its monopolies by "explicitly prohibiting any competitive entry". Late last week, Apple terminated Epic Games' account on its App Store amid a legal battle over the iPhone maker's in-app payment guidelines and accusations they constitute a monopoly. Apple sa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Who will be the next James Bond? Eight candidates for 007 after No Time to Die

Helen Barlow considers the chances of the actors mentioned as potential successors to Daniel Craig, considered the best incarnation of 007 since Sean Connery James Norton, who tells her he likes to explore ‘the inner conflict’ of his characters, and Outlander’s Sam Heughan, a Scot, are the current favourites The announcement of which actor will next play James Bond is still some way off, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation about who it will be. Daniel Craig leaves big shoes to fill after his fifth and final turn as the British special agent in  No Time to Die.   Whether the lucky actor will be well known or a surprise pick, as Craig was, remains to be seen. Age is another factor, given that actors can spend a decade playing 007. As we wait for news, it is interesting to cast our minds back to a time when the film series was in the doldrums – before Pierce Brosnan came along it had been failing, propelled downwards by Timothy Dalton’s  License to Kill  (1989), the least successful o...
Post a Comment
Read more