14 June 2022

MTN’s decision to pay off its US$91m licence renewal fees under a 10-year amortisation agreement in its Rwanda arm has had a 39.6% “negative” impact on its profits after tax for the quarter period, the mobile operator said.

Following a renewal of its licence last year, the firm will make the second instalment payment in July this year. Payment for the fees for the licence, valid for a period of 10 years, follows renewal of the permit by the Rwandan government last year.

“Following the renewal of our operating license in 2021, we are well on track to complete the second instalment of the Licence Fee payment by July 2022,” said Mitwa Ng’ambi, chief executive officer, MTN Rwanda.

Amortisation of the licence has “resulted in a negative impact on profit after tax which closed at US$3.9m”, the company added. MTN Rwanda posted an after-tax profit of about US$6.6m in the previous contrasting period.

MTN has 6.5 million mobile subscribers in Rwanda, with data users accounting for 2.2 million of these and 3.8 million making up its mobile money user base in the country.
Data service revenue “maintained its positive momentum, rising by 13.8%” solidified by “increased subscribers and usage and supported by increased network capacity”.

The number of homes connected to the telco’s fixed wireless and fibre-to-the-home has now surpassed 4300, boosting its active data user acquisition for the quarter by 453 000.

Mobile money users were also 12% stronger, contributing to a 24.5% uplifting in overall service revenues to US$48.8m.