MTN Ghana clears 1.9 million dormant sims

MTN Ghana's subscriber base reduced by 10.3 per cent to 17.3 million for the first half of year 2017, influenced by the company's internal review of subscriber activities. The figure translates into 1.9 million of its subscribers.

This was contained in the interim financial results released Thursday August 3 by the MTN Group for the six months ended June 30, 2017.

According to the telecom company, it lost more subscribers in Nigeria, with a drop of 14.3 percent to a current 53.1 million subscriber base. However, subscribers in South Africa increased by 1.5 percent to 31.2 million.

"MTN Ghana continued to benefit from an improving economy. MTN Ghana’s subscriber base declined by 10,3 per cent to 17.3 million, impacted by the internal review of subscriber definitions," the results stated.

MTN Ghana recorded strong performance in data and digital revenue growth as well as a 9.5 per cent increase in Mobile Money subscribers to 6.2 million.

"Strong growth in revenue, up by 22.6 per cent, was supported by data and digital revenue growth. Data revenue increased by 65.9 per cent, led by a data-bundled smartphone drive and youth value propositions.

"Digital revenue grew by 43.6 per cent with the number of active MoMo subscribers growing by 9.5% to 6.2 million".

Per the National Communications Authority's figures for April 2017, MTN’s voice subscriptions for the period was 16,969,311 representing a percentage increase of 1.07% from March 2017’s figure of 16,789,161. MTN was also the market leader in Ghana with a share of 47.16% for the month under review.

Vodafone’s mobile voice subscriptions increased from 8,582,387 as at the end of March 2017 to 8,651,515 as at the end of April 2017. This represents a percentage increase of 0.81%. Vodafone’s market share for April 2017 was 24.04%.

Tigo’s voice subscriptions increased from 5,098,480 as at the end of March 2017 to 5,187,936 as at the end of April 2017. This indicates a percentage increase of 1.75%. Their market share for the month under review was 14.42%.

Airtel’s voice subscriptions decreased from 4,500,907 as at the end of March 2017 to 4,398,913 as at the end of April 2017. This represents a percentage decrease of 2.27%. Their total market share for the month under review was 12.22%.

Glo’s voice subscriptions decreased from 769,621 as at the end of March 2017 to 753,341 at the end of April 2017. This reflects a percentage decrease of 2.12% for the month. Their total market share for the month under review was 2.09%.

Expresso’s voice subscriber figures decreased from 40,111 as at the end of March 2017 to 23,264 as at the end of April 2017. This represents a percentage decrease of 42.00%. Their total market share for the month under review was 0.06%.