MTN: Lower rates to shave revenue

MTN expects lower mobile termination rates to cut 9% from its revenue next year.

MTN is looking to compensate for the lost revenue by boosting its market share and data services, Karel Pienaar, managing director for MTN South Africa, told Reuters on the sidelines of an African telecoms conference.

“We will see an impact, this year we’ve seen a 9% decrease in revenues from MTR and we will see a similar decrease next year,” he said.

South Africa has been cutting the fees mobile phone companies charge to handle calls from other providers, which is likely to hit earnings at domestic carriers.

MTN’s rival Vodacom said this week the lower rates had an 800 million rand impact on its first-half revenue.