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Uganda, Kampala: MTN has today announced a new set of tariffs to support an increment in investments against a backdrop of rising business costs.
Effective from Saturday 3rd September, 2011 MTN customers will pay UGX4 per second or UGX240 per minute for all local and international zone 1 calls; while those on Zone pay UGX4.5 and UGX5.5 to MTN and local networks respectively, though the discount variance remains unchanged.
Announcing the tariff changes, MTN Chief Executive Officer Themba Khumalo said that over the last thirteen years MTN investments of more than USD1billion were supporting network infrastructure for close to 8 million subscribers; MTN is investing a further USD100million into the network this year.
"We have absorbed a number of operational expenses and ensured that we do not pass them on to our customers, to the extent that we even dropped tariffs by employing innovation in our product and service offerings," Khumalo said.
"In light of recent economic changes, however, the tariff structure is not sustainable for increased business roll-out. The industry is at risk of self-destruction to the detriment of consumers and other stakeholders. At the current rate investments in the sector will decline with the associated quality deterioration. We have a responsibility to protect Uganda’s telecommunications sector and ultimately the customers," Khumalo said.
He explained that over the past couple of months, the telecommunications sector has been struggling as a result of the steady increase in input costs.
“It has become very expensive to do business in Uganda especially over the past few months particularly with the depreciation of the Ugandan shilling by over 20%. The new tariffs will enable us to offset these costs and in so doing ensure that the business is able to be run in a more cost efficient and sustainable way, which provides more reliability of service for our subscribers,” Khumalo added.
Among the costs that the telecommunications firms incur are fuel costs, as all base stations are run on heavy duty generators. "The price of diesel, for example, has gone up from UGX1,500 a few years ago to UGX3,500 today - but we have avoided increasing tariffs accordingly," Khumalo said.
About the MTN GROUP
Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: "MTN". As at 30 September 2009, MTN recorded 108,4 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. Please visit: www.mtn.com and www.mtnplay.com
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