SIM registration impacts MTC results

The compulsory registration of SIM cards contributed to a reduction in MTC’s number of prepaid customers in the telecoms giant past financial year.

According to MTC’s latest Integrated Annual Report (IAR), prepaid customers account for 62% of the group’s revenue.

MTC reported revenue of nearly N$3.01 billion for the year ended 30 September 2023, about 5.3% higher than the previous book-year. The decrease in the prepaid average revenue per user (Arpu) was not sufficient to offset the loss of customers, according to the IAR.

The group also reported a 3.7% year-on-year (y/y) increase in operating expenses. This included a 14.2% increase in employee costs to accommodate additional resources required for new revenue streams and temporary workers to assist with SIM registration, MTC said.



Campaign

The deadline for SIM registration is the end of this month.

According to the IAR, more than 800 000 or 43% of MTC customers’ SIM cards have been registered and the group is campaigning a further 57% of customers to register before the deadline of 31 December.

To boost the numbers, MTC has launched online registration on its website, extended company working hours and deployed teams across Namibia to speed up the process. (Scan the QR code to watch an interview with Tim Ekandjo, MTC’s chief human capital, marketing and corporate affairs officer.)



Extending deadline

The compulsory registration of SIM cards started in January this year.

Speaking at the presentation of MTC financial results on Friday, managing director Licky Erastus said extending the deadline does not fall in the mandate of MTC. However, the group submitted a request for extension of the SIM registration deadline to the authorities is waiting for feedback.

Erastus referred to other markets where compulsory SIM registration was implemented and said their deadlines of between one and two years couldn’t be met.

Taking Namibia’s demographics into account, it is “practically impossible” to reach Namibia’s deadline of 31 December, he said.

He said MTC was “really hopefully” that the authorities would consider “the reality on the ground”.