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Our strategic performance

Build the largest and most valuable platforms

Fintech

In 2023, a key highlight was concluding an agreement for payment network processor Mastercard to invest up to US$200 million for a minority stake in MTN Group Fintech at a valuation of US$5.2 billion.

^ Sources: CB Insights; Fitch Solutions

Fintech

Performance in 2023

Group fintech revenue

+21.8%*

US$272.1bn

transaction value +47.4%*

17.6bn

transaction volumes +32.2%

Our offerings

Wallet
The wallet remains our core and has allowed us to leapfrog and drive advanced financial services through our other verticals.

Payment and e-commerce
Our ecosystem grew strongly as we leveraged our consumer and merchant footprint.

Remittance
Growth was driven by more active corridors as well as focused marketing efforts and improved customer experience. We launched international remittance services in South Africa and Nigeria, providing a low-cost and real-time transfer service that enables customers to share in the benefits of formal financial services.

BankTech
We capitalised on our scaled mobile wallet business, rich data and customer footprint. Uganda and Ghana were the key drivers of performance with strong growth in loan users.

Insurtech
aYo, within our strategic alliance, reported 6.1%* growth in revenue, driven by our focus on higher average revenue per policy, products with improved margins and new revenue streams. We are working to enable expansion into new markets and long-term sustainable growth. In South Africa, the partnership delivered pleasing growth in device insurance.

1.3m

active agents +5.4%

2.1m

active merchants +42.5%

US$3.3bn

value of remittances +44.4%

US$1.9bn

loans disbursed +66.0%

4.1m

active aYo policies -4.7%

US$16.1bn

value of merchant payments +46.1%

Doing more in 2024 (in the short term) ST

Distribution transformation.
Signed a renewed scope for partnership with Ericsson.
Signed Mastercard commercial agreements.
Empowered more businesses through OpenAPI to assist with bill payments and other collection services.
Facilitated 644m OpenAPI transactions from over 2k partners
"As-a-service" capabilities launch in key operations
Expanded our lending partnerships

Doing more over the medium term MT

Deploy full MoMo product offering and grow ecosystem in Nigeria
Grow adoption of advanced services across the footprint
Diversify payment use cases and services through MoMo API
Continue roll-out of MoMoAdvance for consumers, agents and merchants
Roll-out virtual card, powered by Mastercard partnership
Continue piloting e-commerce operations in Uganda, Ghana, and Ivory Coast
MoMoApp focus with MoMo becoming OTT (over-the-top)

Strategic partnerships

Digital

The Digital business is building up MTN Group's content inventory of gaming, video on demand, and music. This content will then be linked through various MTN channels, such as ayoba and MoMo to reduce churn, manage our base and create loyalty. In this way we will be better able to monetise our offerings.

Performance in 2023

Increased digital revenue by

10.0%*

to R3.5 billion, driven by Nigeria.

Gaming and Video grew by

26.8%

and

30.8%

respectively.

Expanded our digital services portfolio with partnerships such as Apple Music in Nigeria, Disney+ and Showmax in South Africa.

Focused on gaming, with the launch of MTN Gameworld, a Gameloft offering in Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire following South Africa and Nigeria.

Doing more over the medium term MT

Enhance Play with super aggregator attributes.
Launch new verticals and innovation play (e.g., Education, health, Home Security, Home Energy).
Launch MTN TV to support fixed offers; launch MTN Studios.
Investigate potential M&A opportunities.

ayoba

ayoba, our instant messaging super app, is one of the key channels through which we disseminate our digital services. Through the ayoba platform, we are able to give users across Africa an ecosystem of digital services and content through its channels, micro-apps and embedded payment solutions.

Enterprise
services

MTN's Enterprise business strategy, centred on driving the adoption of enterprise platforms, is bolstered by the Group's emphasis on converged services solutions and platform transformation. Our Centre of Excellence, founded in 2021, is focused on enhancing capabilities in converged ICT solutions to further support our customers' digital transformation efforts and deliver added value.

Market opportunity

The addressable market has increased significantly since 2021, with ICT outpacing the traditional core services.

Performance in 2023

Our emphasis on strategic initiatives and platform transformation, particularly in the realm of converged services solutions, was instrumental in achieving double-digit revenue growth.

Enterprise revenue up by

23.4%*

South Africa up 15.9%
Nigeria up 45.3%*

Revenue contribution by service:

Mobility	79%
Fixed and MNS	16%
ICT	5%

90%*

of revenue
generated in top
seven markets

Top customers

Doing more in 2024 ST

Accelerating the development of Converged Services to secure a larger share of the ICT market.
Enhancing customer acquisition and retention in the SME sector.
Deploying and expanding converged solutions that integrate Core Mobile and Fixed Services.
Maximising digital transformation for SMEs, driving their growth and ours.
Leveraging our private network and 5G capabilities to deliver industry-specific solutions.
Refining our product offerings and distribution channels for optimal market penetration.
Broadening our partner network to extend our enterprise reach and capabilities.
Cultivating a high-performance culture that fosters collaboration and innovation.
Maintaining our commitment to customer satisfaction and delivering exceptional value.
Tracking and executing strategic initiatives with precision and focus.

Doing more over the medium term MT

Continuing the execution of strategic initiatives aligned to EBU Ambition 2025 strategy that drive our vision forward.
Accelerating maturity with state-of-the-art operating models, frameworks and controls.
Boosting brand visibility and strengthening our position in the enterprise space through targeted marketing efforts.
Streamlining business processes and reducing costs by embracing digitisation and AI technologies.
Collaborating with key stakeholders to fuel growth and expand our market presence.
Transforming our operating model as we evolve from a traditional Telco to a Techno-centric business unit, shifting from productfocused to solution-oriented offerings.

NaaS

MTN's NaaS strategy is focused on utilising our robust infrastructure to enhance value and support the telecommunications industry in our markets.In South Africa, MTN SA has taken the lead in national roaming revenue, with plans for expansion in other key markets.

Performance in 2023

Recognised ~R3.7bn in revenue from national roaming agreement and MVNOs South Africa.
Continued to steadily scale roaming deal in South Africa and expanded to other countries.
Implemented national roaming in eight countries, with ~20% roaming traffic carried on MTN's network increasing month on month.

Doing more over the medium term MT

Exploring other markets for NaaS and strategic group engagements with other MNOs.
Proactive and collaborative engagement with regulators – jointly with other MNOs - to drive problem solving.
Pursue NaaS opportunities as mitigation to unfavourable economic conditions ensuring capex and operating efficiencies.
Spectral efficiencies and access additional capacity in some of our markets will remain a focus for NaaS.
Intend to build out NaaS further than national and active radio access network sharing into passive and transmission opportunities and other platforms.

Market opportunity across our footprint

~R10-20bn

Chenosis – developer accelerator platform

Chenosis is Africa's first cross-industry developer accelerator platform serving developers across start-ups, SMEs, enterprises and the public sector. We provide a single platform to create, publish, discover and subscribe to APIs from across the continent and will evolve to offer many additional capabilities.

Drive industry-leading connectivity operations

In our connectivity business, we are leveraging our substantial subscriber base of 295m to further accelerate consumer mobile data; protecting the voice segment through integrated bundle offerings; owning the home; being the leading FibreCo in Africa; and achieving a step change in service levels. We aim to provide increased access through reducing the cost to communicate and advancing digital inclusion.

We drove industry-leading connectivity operations with:

R82.9bn

voice revenue +3.3% (6.3%* excluding MTN SA – a mature voice market)

+17.5%

voice traffic (excluding JVs)

+26.3%

data traffic

Expanded our fibre footprint to include

~114 000km

proprietary-owned fibre

New fixed connectivity infrastructure deals valued at

US$24.4m

secured

R84.0bn

data revenue +23.0%*

+149.7m

active data users +9.3% (+10.2% excluding JVs)

Data

Data is the single largest structural growth opportunity and was the biggest source of revenue for MTN in 2023. Our data-driven approach and network modernisation has enabled strong subscriber growth and higher data Data usage since the pandemic.

Performance in 2023

Coverage

Site rollout

3G: 3 317 (2022: 3 498)
4G: 5 326 (2022: 7 993)
5G: 2 251 (2022: 1 570)

Increased coverage

3G: +10.6 million people
4G: +32.3 million people
5G: +46.2 million people

Population coverage (%)

2G = 92.42%
3G = 87.74%
4G = 78.86%
5G = MTN SA 35.5%
and MTN Nigeria 11.25%

Handsets

Smartphone penetration

Group: 183.3 million 62.6% penetration
SA: 84.90% penetration

Nigeria: 55.6% penetration
Ghana: 63.80% penetration

Device financing to Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Rwanda through various partnerships.

Affordability

Reducing costs of communication

Reduced effective data tariff by approximately 17%.

16 of our markets are within the UN recommended affordability range within the UN's affordable internet usage target, with price of 1GB of mobile broadband data costing 2% or less of gross national income per capita

Service bundling

Data usage

26.3%
increase in total data use (8.8GB per user per month)

Competitive integrated voice and data-centric plans

Education and ease of access

Education

Educated over 15.7m people on digital literacy

Extended MTN Data-smart programme to four markets

Doing more over the medium term MT

Reach 200 million active data subscribers.
Grow data to contribute 50% to MTN Group's total revenue.
Expand device financing initiatives to new markets.
Accelerate CHASE framework to support transition from voice to data and close the data usage gap to reach broadband population coverage of 95%.
Drive industry engagement to reduce handset costs.

Voice

Unlike the developed world, in many of MTN's developing markets demand for voice services continues to grow. As the demand for data continues to grow, voice services still play a key role in generating revenue for the Group by serving as a crucial lifeline for customers in areas with limited data coverage. At MTN, we are dedicated to providing everyone with the benefits of a modern connected life, which is why we are continuously committed to improving network quality and implementing enhanced customer value management strategies.

Performance in 2023

Doing more in 2024 ST

Targeting 300m subscribers by 2025

Doing more over the medium term MT

Continue to drive increased integrated bundle penetration percentage across our base
Defend and grow our share of wallet through CVM initiatives and segmented customer propositions.
Close monitoring of voice pricing initiatives both above the line and below the line to ensure stability of voice effective rates across our footprint, particularly where inflation is high.

Own the Home

Our ambition continues to garner momentum as we leverage the home segment in key markets, targeting 10m homes by 2025. We aim to capture the opportunity through a portfolio offering that covers different technologies of mobile broadband, 5G fixed wireless access and fibre, and customer needs.

Performance in 2023

~1.4 million incremental subscribers were added to the base – reaching 3.77 million MTN home subscribers.
MTN Nigeria accelerated growth through sales channel and sales force expansion with new demand for FWA/FTTH peaking in Q4 2023 at ~87,000.
Data consumption per home in Nigeria exceeded 430 GB for FTTH and ~88 GB for FWA.
The investment into the 5G network in MTN SA, is paying dividends with ~20% of new home customers on 5G, using ~230Gb per month.
MTN SA's launch of a new product portfolio focused on Residential led to a growth of ~70% in postpaid fixed wireless access subscribers in 2023.

Doing more over the medium term MT

Extend fibre deployment to the home networks in our top six markets.
Increasing deployment of homes passed, yielding input costs benefits.
Dedicated home teams in the operating companies and use of smart planning tools for fixed broadband acceleration.
Tailored propositions to address customers' use cases for fixed broadband, while addressing reliability and affordability.
Drive home portfolio adoption in the markets leveraging fixed-mobile convergence to protect and grow the MTN high value base.
Tailored market strategies due to differing market dynamics and conditions around home density, availability of spectrum and reserve capacity.

Leading FibreCo in Africa

Bayobab is a next-generation services company connecting Africa with digital solutions. Through an open-access business model tailored to industry trends, we serve as a gateway for massive data traffic, catering to MTN Opcos and a global client base. By integrating the Bayobab Fibre network and Bayobab Communication Platforms, the ecosystem facilitates secure and scalable global traffic within Africa and beyond.

Performance in 2023

Took an important step in our evolution by unveiling a new name and positioning, Bayobab, replacing MTN GlobalConnect and made up of two distinct businesses, Bayobab Fibre and Bayobab Communication Platforms.
Advanced work to structurally separate the business, with engagements to secure regulatory clearances in key markets.
Partnered with Africa50 to develop Project East2West, a terrestrial fibre optic cable network to help bridge Africa's connectivity gap by improving broadband access for the continent's landlocked countries.
Acquired the fibre network of MTN Zambia.
Added new fibre operating licence in Uganda, Côte d'Ivoire and Central African Republic.

Doing more over the medium term MT

Targeting 135,000 km of proprietary terrestrial fibre by 2025.
Explore partnerships with specialists to modernise our data centres.

Create shared value

As we move ahead with our strategic delivery, our focus remains on creating value that goes beyond the bottom line. MTN is committed to meeting our customers' current and future needs, leveraging digital capabilities for a more sustainable future and fostering partnerships for progress.

Read more about how we create shared value in our SR

Performance in 2023

^ Excluding South Africa, which was impacted by loadshedding.

Doing more over the medium term MT

Net Zero emissions

Reduce carbon emissions by 50% (off a 2019 base) by 2030 (Scope 1, 2 and 3) and achieve Net Zero emissions by 2040.

Diversity and inclusion

Accelerate diversity and inclusion, targeting 50% female representation in the workforce, and among executives and directors across our operations by 2030.
Recognise, transparently declare and consciously reduce gender pay gaps that exist in our organisation.

Localisation

Target localisations of 35%, 30% and 20% in MTN Nigeria, MTN Ghana and MTN Uganda, respectively.

Our ESG positioning

With ESG at the core of Ambition 2025, we take sustainability seriously and are committed to continuous improvement. We track our progress through multiple mechanisms including benchmarking to best practice and monitoring selected ESG rankings and ratings, each with their own approach to evaluating performance. We are committed to transparency and reporting on our progress in a way that is meaningful and relevant to our stakeholders.

Ratings agency

Sustainalytics

Changes on prior year

Improved ESG risk rating to 22.2^ in the medium risk category, better than our target for the year.

This is a result of an improvement across six out of the eight key areas, with the greatest improvement in the area of business ethics. Carbon (own operations) and data privacy and security are the two areas with no change. Regulatory scrutiny for product governance, including network quality and marketing practices are areas requiring more attention, as failure to comply with regulators may result in significant monetary penalties and could adversely affect our customers' confidence in our services. Heightened exposure to data privacy and security risks due to the high volume of customer data we process. MTN's focus on expanding into developing markets increases our exposure to potential business ethics risks and challenges. Despite our exit from the Middle East, we still face significant business ethics risks due to operations in high-conflict countries.

Ratings agency

S&P Global ESG rating

Changes on prior year

MTN's score declined to 45 in 2023 from 47 in 2022.

S&P has changed its methodology to include a new Global ESG score, which is a combination of company disclosures, media analysis and stakeholder engagement. This change has resulted in a new set of recommendations for improvement areas, which MTN is committed to addressing. Specific focus will be placed on enhancing environmental reporting on water and waste, and placing greater emphasis on biodiversity and deforestation. Improving our talent attraction and retention to remain competitive within the industry remains a priority.

Ratings agency

Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI)

^ Latest data.

Changes on prior year

MTN's rating is unchanged at 'AA'

MTN leads most global peers in corporate governance practices. Led by a fully independent chair, the Board is majority independent, and backed by fully independent audit, remuneration, and nomination committees. Such practices may enhance oversight of management. Further, MTN's labour management initiatives are relatively strong compared to those of industry peers. However, business ethics and tax-related allegations (as of August 2023) weigh on the company's assessment.

Accelerate portfolio transformation

There are three elements in our work to accelerate portfolio transformation. The first is executing on the ARP and deleveraging the balance sheet. The second is to continue to optimise our portfolio, including exiting the Middle East in an orderly fashion, allowing us to simplify the business. The third is to reveal the value in fintech and the fibre infrastructure assets over the medium term.

ARP and deleveraging | R19.6bn of target achieved to date

	Realisations and other	Localisations
Progress to date	Jumia, BICS, aYo and other – R5.0bn. SA tower transaction – R6.4bn. Mastercard – up to US$200m.	Nigeria IPO – R4.2bn. Ghana, Uganda and Zambia localisations – R4bn.

Future focus	Platform minority investments. Digital group: MEIH. IIG.	Further sell-downs: Nigeria ~11%. Ghana ~7%. Uganda ~7%. Cameroon ~10%.

>R25bn targeted over the medium term

Portfolio transformation

Concluded MTN Afghanistan disposal.
Offer received for MTN Guinea-Bissau and MTN Guinea-Conakry.
Irancell managed for value.

Simplify the portfolio and reduce risk

Separation: fintech and fibre infrastructure

Definitive agreements signed with Mastercard for a minority investment of up to change to US$200m, subject to customary closing conditions.
Structural separation of fibre business advanced – engagements to secure regulatory clearances main priority.

Unlock value

Doing more over the medium term MT

ARP

Broaden the local shareholder base in MTN Nigeria – aiming to hold 65% in time.
Further localise MTN Ghana, targeting another 6.3% to achieve a 30% localisation outcome.
Sell-down of a further 7% of MTN Uganda.
Localise MTN Cameroon.

Portfolio transformation

Explore M&A opportunities in line with the capital allocation framework.
Continue engagement with potential partners.

Structural separation

Conclude structural separation of the fintech business and partnership agreement.
Complete separation of fibre infrastructure businesses.