18. SUDAN CONFLICT

Conflict started in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on 15 April 2023 between Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces which led to damage to state-owned infrastructure in the city. The conflict resulted in the displacement of Sudanese citizens to neighbouring countries and the evacuation of foreign nationals. As the conflict continued, limited grid power and fuel availability and the instability of fibre transmission links resulted in the degradation of network availability of MTN’s Sudanese operation in 2023.

On 2 February 2024, the Rapid Support Forces ordered a nationwide telecommunication shutdown. Due to MTN Sudan’s network topology and increased conflict in the country, MTN Sudan was only able to recover the network at the end of May 2024 and currently have some sites on-air in safe regions. MTN Sudan is committed to increasing their on-air sites to connect the Sudanese people despite the challenging circumstances.

The ongoing conflict in Sudan has resulted in loss of revenue and earnings and has led to a prolonged hyperinflationary environment. Accordingly, the future economic benefits that can be derived from MTN Sudan’s operations have declined. To this end, MTN Group has recognised an impairment of R 3 803 million relating to MTN Sudan’s non-current assets.

The following key assumptions were used:

• Growth rate: A terminal growth rate of 10.4%.
• Discount rate: Two discount rates of 74.48% and 35.80%, reflecting periods in conflict and out of conflict respectively.

The total impairment of R3 803 million comprised of the following: