Enzo Scarcella, chief operating officer of MTN South Africa, goes to bed at night with one figure on his mind: 5.6%. It's the figure MTN is going to have to match or surpass to gain ground on Vodacom. The 5.6% is Vodacom's service revenue growth - which excludes revenue from selling devices - a number Scarcella is committed to surpassing. MTN's service revenue growth is 1.9%. The numbers are not strictly comparable, as Vodacom's financial year is to March 31 2017 and MTN's to December 31 2016, but they do show the gap. South Africa and Nigeria make up two-thirds of the MTN Group's revenue, but the picture has not been bright in recent years. The focus had been on Nigeria, as its economy was spurred on by the oil price. But the fall in commodity prices, coupled with the hefty fine MTN had to pay the Nigerian government, hit this operation hard and has put pressure on the South African business to perform. Scarcella said he was optimistic about the growth potential of the company he j...
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