Telecoms giant posts first ever loss
Johannesburg-based MTN reported profits of 20.2 billion rand ($1.6 billion) before tax for 2015.
A big fine in Nigeria weighed on MTN's bottom line in 2016
"MTN Group's financial results for 2016 reflect the most challenging year in the company's 22-year history," MTN said in a statement.
Johannesburg-based MTN reported profits of 20.2 billion rand ($1.6 billion) before tax for 2015.
Overall performance was hindered by lower than expected growth in both South Africa and Nigeria -- as well as the depreciation of the rand against the dollar and the continued impact of a $1 billion (950 million euros) fine by Nigerian authorities.
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Nigerian authorities fined MTN in October 2015 for failing to disconnect unregistered mobile accounts in the country -- originally ordering it to pay $1,000 for each improperly registered SIM card.
Abuja had ordered the purge for security reasons, as the country battles Boko Haram Islamists as well as criminality -- especially kidnapping for ransom.
The original Nigerian Communications Commission penalty was equal to roughly a quarter of the country's annual federal budget.
Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is MTN's largest market, where it now has 62 million subscribers out of a total of 233 million -- a 1.2 percent increase on 2015.
MTN's operations in South Africa were hit by technical issues and customer service problems during the year, which also hurt the bottom line, the company said.
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"Towards the end of 2016 our two largest operations (South Africa and Nigeria)... began to show signs of a turnaround following an extended period of underperformance."
Revenue was fractionally up for the year at 146.9 billion rand ($11.3 billion, 10.7 billion euros), the company said.
The MTN share price on the Johannesburg stock exchange rose five percent after the announcement of the company results compared to the close on Wednesday.
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