http://business.peacefmonline.com/news/201001/36234.php

The MTN Group has confirmed that the Head office of the West and Central Africa (WECA) region would to be located in Ghana, a statement in Accra said on Monday.

The WECA regional office comprises of nine operating units - Nigeria, Benin, Cote D'Ivoire Liberia, Cameroon, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Congo Brazzaville and Ghana.

Ms. Mawuena Adjo Dumor, Corporate Service Executive of MTN Ghana, said Ghana was chosen because of its friendly business environment among other things.

She said the WECA headquarters would be located at MTN Ghana's head office in Accra and would be the administrative hub of the nine countries that constituted the WECA region.

Hitherto, the WECA regional office director, Mr. Christian De Faria, who is also Vice President of the region, did not have a stable office so had been moving from country to country to do his work, but he would now work from Ghana.

"The establishment of the office in Ghana provides enormous benefits not only to our business but to the country and we are excited to be hosting it," Ms Dumor said.

She said the benefits include leveraging economies of scale in respect of supply of telecoms infrastructure across the region, which will have positive implications for the national agenda to make Ghana the gateway to West Africa.

Ms Dumor said it would also create opportunities to apply Ghanaian knowledge, expertise and experience to other MTN operating units' technical and stakeholder engagement initiatives.

Ghana has been recognized at the MTN Group level for execution excellence in Marketing and Social Responsibility.

"Indeed the Ghana operating unit continues to support knowledge sharing in these key areas of the business," Ms Dumor said.

There are three Regional Offices within the MTN Group - the WECA regional office; the South East Africa (SEA) regional office; and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regional office.

The MTN Group recorded 108 million subscribers at the close of September 30, 2009, out of which the WECA region made a very significant contribution.

In Ghana MTN is the market leader, commanding some eight million out of the close to 15 million mobile phone subscribers in the country, representing over 54 per cent market share.

The MTN Group is a global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup slated for June in South Africa.


Addendum

Daily Independent (Lagos)
Africa: MTN Subscriber Base Hits 100 Million, Country Contributes 25 Percent

Aaron Ukodie

7 May 2009

 
The MTN Group has reached the 100 million subscriber mark in its drive to become the world's leading telecommunications service provider in emerging markets, according to official figures released on Wednesday.

With a telecommunications network that covers a population of approximately 500 million, the 100 million subscriber achievement means that 1 in 5 people in MTN's 21 markets in Africa and the Middle East is an MTN subscriber.

Nigeria's subscriber base rose by 12 percent, from 23.077 million in December 2008 to 25.908 million in March 2009. The figure represents 59 of the 44.2 million MTN lines in West Africa and 25 percent of the group total subscriber base.

The Group recorded 98,203,000 subscribers at 31 March 2009 - up 8 percent from 31 December 2008 - touching the all-important 100 million mark in April this year as the telecoms operator signed up more customers.

Virtually in all the countries that MTN operates, the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) plunged by an average of 20 per cent between December 2008 and March 2009.

Benin Republic and Nigeria's ARPU are still the highest in Africa, even though it plunged from $17 in December 2008 to $13 as at March 2009.

South and East Africa (SEA) region contributed 26 percent of the Group's total subscribers while West and Central Africa (WECA) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) contributed 45 per cent and 29 per cent respectively.
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MTN Group President and CEO Mr. Phuthuma Nhleko said: "For a 15-year-old company operating amid increased competitive intensity in all its markets, this is a most satisfactory performance by MTN. This affirms our leadership position in many areas of our business."

"MTN's success is also attributable to a business model that has included sound financial investment, strong corporate governance, effective management and corporate social responsibility," explained Mr. Nhleko.

He paid tribute to MTN's culturally diverse staff of over 40 nationalities across the company's markets, saying their "can-do" spirit and "innovative mindset" had placed the MTN Group in a strong competitive position.

i think it matters, since we provide a FULL quarter of their worldwide subscribers, and i'm sure we provide at least 25%(i'm sure its much more) of their revenue, its not as if their customer services or even the network services are 'all that' in nigeria. so for a country that provides so much for them, what do they do for us? methinks its a major insult.

Its simple! Switch over to Glo. Advise your friends and Family to do the same.

MTN WITH NO MONEY (WELL THEY BORROWED MONEY) AND THEY ARE MOVING BILLIONS OUT OF NIGERIA. HOLD IT RIGHT THERE BEFORE YOU START BLAMING OUR LEADERS AS USUAL, IT IS THE ELITE THAT FAILED US NOT THE PRESIDENCY.

SOME NIGERIANS WITH THEIR INDIVIDUALISM IN BUSINESS.

AFTER 8YEARS WHICH PHONE COMPANY HAS CHALLENGED MTN?

THERE ARE MORE COMPANIES COMING AND THEY ARE DOING THE SAME THING.

TO BEAT MTN

YOU MUST HAVE A REVIEWED CONTRACT SYSTEM.
YOUR CALLS MUST BE COMPETITIVE. FOR INSTANCE WHERE I LIVE HERE THERE ARE COMPANIES THAT GIVE YOU FREE CALL DAYS. INFACT THE CALLS BETWEEN SAME MOBILE PHONE SHOULD BE FREE IT SHOULD BE A ONE TIME PAYMENT OR YOU CAN HAVE A MONTHLY RENTAL ALL CALLS BE MADE FREE.

Citizen Action is what is required here not govt action. We don't know how many jobs have been missed out on by Nigeria but one thing i know is that if we take a collective action to boycott all MTN products and services in Nigeria they will come to their senses in an instant.
It is time for Glo and Visafone to seize the initiative and let their marketing departments design penetration strategies centered around Nationalism. East Asian companies have been doing it for a while so It would not exactly be a new thing.

It's all about money and logistics. They spend a lot of money on diesel and other arrangements to keep their equipments and offices running 24/7.

The fact is, the situation was the same when they set up business in Nigeria and Nigerians welcomed them and sacrificed with them to make them what they are today in Nigeria. MTN rakes in billions of Naira a day in Nigeria for doing nothing but squeezing money out of their subscribers pockets without offering anything special or new and exciting products. regardless of our problems, most of their global profits is generated in Nigeria and they not only have a business obligation to leave their HQ in Nigeria, they have morale and communal obligations to stay.

I'm not a subscriber and I'm not in Nigeria so there's little I can do to show my dissatisfaction. I do encourage their subscribers in Nigeria to get rid of MTN and their products and go with local companies.

PapaBrowne:

Its simple! Switch over to Glo. Advise your friends and Family to do the same.

hope glo won't do same soon

nigerians should stop complaning, and face the reality,theres a gang up against nigeria as a nation,many countries in africa see nigeria as big treat,our economy,people,interllectual blessed,are big concern to many nations,who are ready to blackmaill every effort nigeria as a nation makes.wealter mtn move or not nigeria remains.the only thing nigeria should do consentrate in given every tribe opportunity of leadership these will forge a very strong unity among nigerians.

who cares?

with MTN doing this there are 400 global telecoms companies that are in line to take their spot.

MTN is also loosing ground and face in nigeria cause nigerians are overwhelmingly switching to Glo