MTN, Africa's biggest mobile operator, yesterday forecast a rise in subscribers of nearly 10% by year's end, reaping the dividend from billions of dollars of spending on its networks.
The company said subscriber numbers grew by 4% in its third quarter, overcoming intense competition and price cuts from rivals.
Strong growth in Nigeria, Iran and South Africa prompted the company to lift its forecast for new users this year by 8.5%, to 22.9million from 21.1million
In Nigeria, MTN's biggest market, the number of users rose 5.1% to 36.8million. MTN's Iran unit, launched in late 2006, boosted subscribers by 5.6% to 28.4million.
MTN is gearing up for competition from rival Bharti Airtel in Africa, which is waging a price war and plans to spend $1.1-billion over the next three years on network upgrades in its sub-Saharan business.
Bharti acquired the African assets of Kuwait's Zain this year.
"We will have to see what Bharti Airtel's launch brings," said Pallavi Ambekar, an analyst at Coronation Fund Managers in Cape Town.
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