MTN pays $196 mln to Buy Licences in Ivory Coast, Ghana

Investors have shunned MTN after Nigerian authorities handed it a $5.2 billion fine for failing to cut off users with unregistered users.(REUTERS)


South Africa's MTN Group has paid $196 million in total for operating licences in Ghana and Ivory Coast, it said on Thursday, cementing its position in West Africa, where it also faces problems in Nigeria over a hefty fine.
Africa's biggest mobile phone operator said it has paid 75 billion CFA francs ($124 million) to extend its operating licence in Ivory Coast, where it provides services to more than a third of the country's population of about 25 million.

The money is 75% of the total cost of renewing the license and is above the 50% down payment, which was due by December 15, MTN said in a statement.

It did not say when it would pay the remainder.

MTN also said it would pay $67.5 million to Ghanian telecoms authorities to buy a 15-year radio frequency spectrum that would enable it to roll out high-speed networks to meet surging demand for data as consumers use their devices to browse the Internet and stream videos.

Shares in MTN, which have been hammered in recent months as it negotiates to reduce a fine in Nigeria, jumped 7.6% to 139.92 rand by 1108 GMT. Investors have shunned MTN after Nigerian authorities handed it a $5.2 billion fine for failing to cut off users with unregistered users.

The stock is down about 25% since the fine was first announced on October 26. Since then, MTN had been in talks with the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), lobbying for the fine to be reduced.

The NCC did cut the fine by 25% earlier this month to $3.9 billion and gave the company until year-end to pay it, but MTN is seeking a further reduction, a source close to the company has told Reuters.

Rating agency Moody's downgraded MTN's rating on Wednesday to Baa3, or just one-notch above junk - citing uncertainty around the outcome of the fine in Nigeria, MTN's biggest market.

The license renewal in Ivory Coast gives MTN a regulatory permit to remain in one of Africa's fastest-growing economies for another 17 years.

MTN launched services in Ivory Coast in 2005.