Middle East and North Africa region - MTN Group

What we do Our chairman’s viewWho we are How we performed How we run our businessGroup chief operating officer’s report continuedMTN Sudan review continuedSubscribers – Sudan (000)4 0003 0002 6472 0902 0001 0661 0000Dec 07 Dec 08OverviewIt was a difficult year for MTN Sudan in 2008, mainly as a resultof the regulator’s directive to disconnect more than 1,1 millionprepaid subscribers who had not registered their personaldetails and exacerbated by internal operational challengesin an environment of strong competition. Blended averagerevenue per user declined to USD7 in December 2008 fromUSD12 at the beginning of the year because of lower outgoingminutes of use. Subscriber net additions during the yeardropped to 557 000 from 1 024 000 in 2007.ARPU – Sudan252016151050127Dec 07 Dec 08(USD)On a positive note, however, we noted significant improvementsin the final quarter, with an increased number of subscribers, netadditions and revenue. A new chief executive was appointed inOctober and further senior management changes occurred inthe first quarter of 2009. Towards the end of the year, we regainedmarket share to 28%. However, our share of revenue still has to beimproved in line with subscriber share.Market environmentPolitical instability continues to be a challenge in Sudan; povertyis widespread and per capita income is low. However, with itssignificant oil resources, the economic potential of Africa’s largestcountry is considerable. Linked to this is the opportunity for growthin the telecoms sector, where mobile penetration increased to just23% in 2008 from 21% a year earlier. However, competition amongthe three main mobile operators in a country of around 38 millionpeople is fierce due to the handset subsidisation and low tariffs ofthe CDMA operator.