Revenue of the mobile money (MoMo) arm of telecommunication market leader – MTN – reached GH¢899million, a 9 percent growth on a year-on-year growth in the first half of the year, its unaudited interim report has shown.
The figure, however, pales in comparison to the 50.9 percent YoY growth recorded a year earlier, and was attributed to slower growth in Peer-to-peer (P2P) revenue and overall transactional activity occasioned by the 25 percent reduction in transaction fees, as well as customer pushback against the implementation of the E-Levy, resulting in a 0.3 percent decline in MoMo transaction value.
Nevertheless, the number of active MoMo users and the volume of transactions increased by 11 percent and 19.3 percent respectively, over the period. Additionally, advanced service offerings such as retail merchant payments, insurance and international remittances, continued on a positive trajectory, rising by 24 percent on an annualised basis.
Commenting, MTN said: “Advanced services remain a pivot for MoMo growth as we continue to expand the portfolio of products in that category. There are products in the advanced piloting stage, and we expect these to be mainstream by the end of the year”.
As was expected, the contribution of MoMo to service revenue sunk to 19.3 percent from 22.8 percent a year ago. However, overall service revenue increased by 28.9 percent to reach GH¢4.7billion in the half year.
Other lines
On the back of GH¢1.1billion capital expenditure to boost service quality and expand capacity and coverage on the network, as well as the diligent execution of commercial strategies resulting in an increase in subscriber base, an increase usage and engagement by customers, the telco saw growth in its other lines, namely data, voice and digital.
In the period under consideration, its active mobile subscriber base reached 27.8 million which is equivalent to 88 percent of the 2021 national census figure.
Data revenue bettered mid-year 2021 as it was up 49.3 percent to GH¢1.8billion. MTN also increased its 4G coverage to reach 97.2 percent, as well as pay taxes to the tune of GH¢1.2billion.
SMP
MTN disclosed that it is in the advanced stages of implementing the fourth remedy of its Significant Market Power (SMP) status, which focuses on national roaming with the completion of the first pilot programme.
“We will continue to work with the NCA in implementing the remaining three SMP remedies. In the meantime, we have implemented two of the three on a self-regulatory basis pending final discussions with the regulator,” MTN said.
In the first half of the year, MTN partnered with Vodafone under the auspices of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) to enhance the national roaming regime.
Broad outlook
“We remain focused on the execution of our Ambition 2025 strategy to help withstand the pressures of the external environment on the business. We will continue to exercise prudent and disciplined cost management in a high inflationary environment through our Expense Efficiency Programme, and maintain an efficient capital allocation to protect our margins and unlock value,” MTN stated, offering cautiously optimistic guidance for the rest of the year.
The telco expressed optimism that it will meet its target of 30 percent localization of its operations by the end of the year.
“MTN Ghana continues to make good on the commitment to increase local ownership to 30 percent for Scancom PLC and 30 percent for MobileMoney Limited… we expect to progress the localization of Scancom PLC and MobileMoney Limited to completion in the second half of the year.”
By the end of June, the local ownership of both arms of MTN’s in-country operations was 23.7 percent.
“We will continue to work with government, regulators, and other relevant stakeholders to achieve localization of the remaining 6.3 percent within the stipulated time.”
