THE MTN Group says Africa has a higher mobile connectivity penetration with regard to internet compared to the computer penetration.
It says internet has emerged as one of the biggest revenue generating streams for its business in the last five years, providing the services to over 232 million customers across the continent.
MTN group general manager of corporate affairs Xolisa Vapi said for the telecommunication company, internet was the new gold frontier for the business as it was emerging as one of the biggest revenue-generating streams.
Mr Vapi indicated that for the last 18 years, MTN was driven by the voice calling business, but in the last five years, internet had significantly revolutionised the nature and form of communication and interaction on the continent.
“Our growth for the last 18 years has been driven by the voice stream and our ability to have provided our over 232 million customers to make voice calls.
“But over the last five years, we have seen data emerge as a revenue stream, taking a stronghold in terms of revenue generation for MTN and we aim to provide quality internet services to our customers across the continent,” Mr Vapi said.
He was speaking during a welcoming dinner for the Highway Africa delegates here on Sunday evening.
Highway Africa commemorates 20 years since its inception, with this year’s theme ‘Internet and the media: Celebrations, reflections and the future’, resonating with many delegates to the conference.
He said MTN would continue to play a catalyst role of providing internet connectivity to the continent.
Mr Vapi noted that Africa had a high mobile connectivity penetration with regard to internet compared to computer penetration.
“As one of the largest telecommunication companies in Africa, we have the lion’s share in terms of mobile penetration and we believe we have a huge role to play not only to improve our internet connectivity on the continent but also the benefits on the company,” Mr Vapi said.
Over 400 delegates from 42 African countries as well as from outside the continent attended the conference.
Source: http://www.times.co.zm/?p=89814
