DATE : April 23, 2020

TO : Teacher in Global Business in Practice, CU Denver

FROM : MBA Student
Subject : Company briefing – memorandum
This memorandum gives a brief description of MTN Group Limited (Mobile Telephone
Network), a multinational telecommunications company operating in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
As it is said in the Deloitte – 2017 Telecommunications industry outlook, "The telecom sector
continues to be at the epicenter for growth, innovation, and disruption for virtually any
industry." The industry is viewed as the world's biggest machine which operates with
complex networks, telephones, mobile phones, and internet-linked computers to provide
solutions to nearly everybody and every activity and transaction around the world. Major
applications of the telecommunications sector products are towards security and defense,
natural resources monitoring, infrastructure and civil engineering, earth science studies and
monitoring, location-based services, and disaster management and emergency services.
In 2019, the market researchers reported an expected industry value of around 1.46 trillion U.S.
dollars in 2020. The major industry players are in North America, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific
region. The penetration rates of mobile broadband in Africa grew nearly twenty times between
2010 and 2018, and Gartner predicts that worldwide 5G network infrastructure revenues will
touch $4.2 billion in 2020, recording year-over-year growth of 89 percent.
Founded in 1994, MTN is a South African based telecommunications corporation with 250
million customers across 21 countries, one of the largest emerging market telecommunications
groups. In 2019, Forbes Magazine ranked MTN as the forty-ninth most significant player in the
industry among a hundred, with $10.2 Billion in sales and $13.5 Billion market capitalization.
The company employs 18,931 people from more than 58 nationalities across its subsidiaries. In
25 years, a strategy built on mergers and acquisitions has been successful enough to propel
MTN as the African leader in the telecommunications industry, and Most Admired African
Brand in Brand Africa100 ranking. Some significant purchases, such as Verizon Business South
Africa in 2008, allowed the company to increase its business assets and market share.
In 2004, MTN obtained a license to operate in Cyprus, launching the country's first 4G network.
After 14 years of operation in the European market, the Cyprus branch is sold to Monaco
Telecom €260 million in July 2018.
MTN capitalizes on its strong market presence in South Africa and Nigeria. Despite increasing
competition, MTN Nigeria continues to lead the mobile market with a 39.5% market share. In
2019, MTN Nigeria had 63.2 million subscriptions, followed by MTN South Africa with 31%
market share and 30.8 million mobile subscriptions. Doing business with institutional
organizations such as Nigeria Central Bank has allowed the company to develop new strategic
expertise and competitive advantage in the financial sector.
In the middle East, MTN is present in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, and Iran. Through multiple
joint ventures, the company is one of the two telecom operators in Syria and very successful in
Iran, with 49% of Irancell, the largest mobile network, and fixed wireless internet service.