MTN is SA’s better connection for now, but game changer looms

The latest quarterly survey by telecoms specialist MyBroadband.com delivers some more good news for an embattled MTN whose shareholders are still celebrating the Nigerian Attorney General dropping his $2bn claim against the group. But while the Nigerian challenge is far from over (Inland Revenue and Customs are still on MTN's case), results of the MyBroadband report offer comprehensive proof the group's network is clearly superior to rival Vodacom and far above the service of SA's other three players. But as MyBroadband's head of technology Marius Hollenbach explains in this Rational Radio interview, there's a game-changer coming with the Government's long-awaited release of new spectrum in the second half of the year. – Alec Hogg .Content hosted by iono.fm.It's been a rough six months for South Africa's multinational telecoms group MTN, with its share price in the low 80s down 27% since August – and off a staggering two thirds since the peaks of five years ago..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.A major part of the slump in MTN's value is because of an acrimonious relationship in its major market, Nigeria, where the Government imposed a fine of $5.2bn in 2016 ostensibly because the company failed to disconnect more than five million Pay As You Go subscribers who had not been correctly registered. That fine was negotiated down to $1.7bn and subsequently paid..MTN has done well out of Nigeria, repatriating over $8bn in dividends since 2007; but it remains a net investor on Africa's most populous country having injected over $10bn in fixed investment and paid over $6bn in tax..But it remains a target for the cash strapped Nigerian Government and in 2018 faced another claim, this time for unpaid taxes of $2bn. MTN is fighting the case which was due to be heard at the end of the month. That case has now been dropped after the Attorney General dropped the charge, leading to a 5% bounce in the telecom company's share price..It's unlikely that the results of the MyBroadband survey will be as warmly welcomed by shareholders, but the extent of MTN's lead in South Africa over its rivals certainly bodes well for client retention and potential acquisition in a high churn sector..In this Rational Radio interview, the man who drives the survey explains how it works and how MTN has managed to fulfil its boast of being the better connection. But also with a cautionary word about the game changer called 5G which will hit SA with a vengeance in the second half of 2020.

MTN is SA’s better connection for now, but game changer looms

Related Stories

Meet Tshepo Mahloele – Big Capitec shareholder, ABSIP’s “CEO of the Decade” now accused by Holomisa as kingpin of corrupt network

PREMIUM: Making of a great editor – the George Palmer playbook

Premium – BizNews global portfolio: ASML joins – so does Adobe as Bull takes hold again

Alec Hogg: Helen Zille predicts SA choice will be DA or EFF