"FLIRTING WITH SUITORS"

With operations in 21 countries across Africa and Middle East, MTN is one of the largest telecom players in Africa
Mansi Tiwari

A SOUTH Africa-based company, MTN is communication service provider offering cellularbased services and business solutions. With operations in 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East, it is one of the largest emerging market mobile operators globally. Founded in 1994, the company at the end of March 2008 had a total of 68.2 million mobile subscribers.

The operations of the company are broadly divided into three major regions — South & East Africa (SEA), West and Central Africa (WECA) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Being among the top two operators in most of its market, MTN enjoys a dominant share in the market.

The company’s widespread geographical operations and rapid expansion for the past few years has led to a significant increase in the addressable population size from just 41 million in 1997 (only South African presence) to 274 million in 2005 (several African countries) to nearly 511 million at the end of 2007, with a presence across North, South, East, West and Central Africa as well as in the Middle East region.

The MTN Group operates in Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, Iran, Afghanistan, Benin, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Liberia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

In the past this South African giant has reportedly declared talks for deals with various companies. But the interesting point to note is that everytime it has happened, the price of MTN’s stock have risen dramatically.