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

Studio Ghibli Meets The Legend Of Zelda in Stunning Breath of the Wild Poster

The Legend of Zelda  is  one of Nintendo's longest running, and most popular, game franchises , with the recent title of  Breath of the Wild  giving us a fresh new take on characters such as Link, Zelda, and Gannon, as one fan has decided to show what this game might look like as a product of  Studio Ghibli . Ghibli, which is often considered to be one of the most legendary animation studios, having created anime feature length films such as  Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away , and many others that have propelled the studio's brand across the world. Studio Ghibli is set to release a new movie later this year in  Earwig and the Witch , taking the opportunity to venture into the world of computer graphics for this upcoming anime. Following this entry, Ghibli is looking to adapt the popular story known as " How Do You Live ", meaning that there is still plenty of work for the legendary animation house to do.  Hayao Miyazaki came out of retirement...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Earth is making the moon rust

(CNN)The moon is getting rusty. Scientists had the same reaction you probably did when they reached this conclusion. It shouldn't be possible -- after all, there's no oxygen on the moon, one of the two essential elements to create rust, the other being water. But the evidence was there. India's lunar probe, Chandrayaan-1, orbited the moon in 2008, gathering data that has led to numerous discoveries over the years -- including the revelation that there are water molecules on its surface. The probe also carried an instrument built by NASA that could analyze the moon's mineral composition. When researchers at NASA and the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology analyzed the data recently, they were stunned to find hints of hematite, a form of iron oxide known as rust. There are plenty of iron-rich rocks on the moon -- but rust is only produced when iron is exposed to oxygenand water. At first, I totally didn't believe it. It shouldn't exist based on the...
Post a Comment
Read more