In October 2025 MTN announced it had surpassed 300 million customers, the first African-headquartered telco to reach that milestone, making it the sixth-largest in the world by subscriber count. It has a footprint in sixteen countries in Africa and the Middle East.[5][6][7]
The company was founded in 1994 as M-Cell with assistance from the South African government.[8] In 1995, it replaced its then CEO, John Beck, with Robert (Bob) Chaphe and founder Leena Jaitley.[9] In 2001, the company reported that its controlling shareholder was Johnnic Holdings, and the chairperson wasIrene Charnley.[10] In 2002,Phuthuma Nhleko became the CEO,[11] replacing then-CEO Paul Edwards, who had invested in expansion to Nigeria.[12]
In May 2008,Bharti Airtel, an India-based telecommunications company, explored the possibility of buying MTN Group.[14]Reliance Communications was also in talks with MTN for a "potential combination of their businesses".[15][16] In July, the two companies ended discussions regarding the merger.[17]
In June 2008, MTN Group agreed to purchase Verizon Business South Africa, which was a provider of data services to customers in South Africa and four other African countries.[18] The acquisition was completed on 28 February 2009.[19]
On 26 June 2009, MTN Group's subsidiary merged withBelgacom International Carrier Services (BICS), a subsidiary ofBelgacom.[20] The combined subsidiary functioned as the international gateway for carrier services of MTN.[21]
In October 2012, MTN announced a partnership withAfrihost to provideDSL Broadband services in Africa.[22][23]
In November 2012, South Africanholding companyShanduka Group acquired a minority stake in MTN Group's Nigeria business for $335 million.[24]
MTN mast in Kaduna State
In 2014, the company sold itstower portfolios inCôte d’Ivoire,Cameroon,Zambia andRwanda toIHS Towers.[25] That year, MTN was named to the 2014 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand rankings and named the Most Admired and Most Valuable Brand in Africa,[26] retaining the latter ranking in 2015.[26] IHS Towers later acquired MTN South Africa’s towers, in 2022.[27]
In March 2016, the company appointed Rob Shuter asCEO,[28] who was succeeded on 1 September 2020 byRalph Mupita.[29]
In May 2023, in support of the company's "Ambition 2025" plan to structurally separate its fibre business; MTN rebranded subsidiary MTN GlobalConnect as Bayobab, operating as Bayobab Fibre and Bayobab Communication.[30] On March 14, 2024, several undersea cables were cut, disrupting service for the Africa Coast to Europe.[31] Bayobab repaired the disabled ACE and WASC lines during the following week.[32]
On 31 May 2018, MTN Ghana launched its initial public offering (IPO).[33] The IPO closed on 31 July 2019. A total of up to 4,637,394,533 ordinary shares of MTN Ghana, representing 35% of its equity was offered to qualifying applicants. This was part of the agreement between MTN Ghana and Ghana'sNational Communications Authority (NCA) in November, 2015 for MTN Ghana to deploy 4G LTE mobile services to its customers in Ghana.[34] Among other methods of payments, MTNmobile money was included as a payment option for the MTN share offer subscription. This was the first time mobile money had been used as a payment method in an IPO.[35] The current CEO of MTN Ghana is Mr.Selorm Adadevoh.[36]
On 23 February 2017, Nigerian protestors attacked a MTN office inAbuja,Nigeria as a counterattack due to violence targeted against Nigerians in South Africa.[37][38]
In September 2019 MTN began closing stores in Nigeria and some of their stores inJohannesburg,South Africa due to rioting, looting, and attacks on some of their facilities.[39][40][41][42][43][44]
Geoffrey Onyeama the Nigerian Foreign Minister stated at a press briefing on 4 September 2019, that MTN group along with Shoprite, stated that the targeted South African stores in Nigeria are "subsidiaries that are owned by Nigerians." And that "the property owned by Nigerians within Nigeria and the people working there are Nigerians."[45]
Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture, reported that some of the South African companies that were attacked in Nigeria have Nigerian investors owning significant amounts of stakes, and Nigerian employees.[46][47]
MTN has stated that they will continue to do business in Nigeria.[48][49]
In March 2019 MTN launched aWhatsApp channel to let its customers buy airtime and data bundles through the messaging app.[50] Customers can also check their balances and store their credit ordebit cards in the app for future purchases. The service is provided by another South African company, Clickatell.[51]
In the same year, MTN launched a communication platformayoba.[52]
In August 2020, MTN decided to sell its shares inSyria,Afghanistan andYemen, and to divest its 49% minority holding inIrancell over time. The company's decision was based on the fact that their assets in the Middle East contributed less than 4% to group earnings in the first half of the year.[57] MTN Group has transferred its majority 82.8% shareholding in MTN Yemen to Emerald International Investment, thereby exiting the market.[58]
In February 2021, the MTN Group partnered withMastercard to ensure safe and secure global e-commerce payments of their customer base in 16 African countries. A Mastercard virtual payment platform, that is linked to MTN MoMo (Mobile Money) wallets makes this possible.[60]
In March 2021, MTN CEORalph Mupita announced during the company's annual results call that the group was now considering spinning off its mobile money activities. "We see a separation and carve out of our fintech business as something that we have to do”.[61] In April 2021, he estimated the value of the group's mobile money arm to at least US$5 to 6 billion.[62]
MTN South Africa providesGSM,UMTS,HSPA+ (21.1 Mbit/s),HSUPA (42 Mbit/s, 2100 MHz),VOIP,3G,4G,LTE and5G services.[63] On 1 December 2011, MTN became the second cellular provider to introduce4G and LTE in South Africa[64] They were also the first network operator in South Africa to launch a live public 5G network available inJohannesburg andCape Town on 30 June 2020.[65][66][67][68]
MTN intends to transition away from old technologies, including 2G and 3G coverage, which still form part of its vast network. In early 2025, the company announced intentions to roll out low-cost (R99) 4G smartphones to 1.2 million of its prepaid customers, as part of this effort.[69]
Supersonic provides Fibre through most Service Providers includingOpenServe andVumatel.[79] SuperSonic also offers “Air Fibre”, a5G Based Mobile data service introduced in February 2021.[80][81][82]
PIn July 2021, they were fourth from the bottom of a list of 16 big ISP's that were rated.[83]
In 2010 MTN Group became the title sponsor of theGhana FA Cup, renamed the MTN FA Cup.[87] In September 2025, the company deepened its investment in Ghanaian football with a two-year deal to sponsor its football teams theBlack Stars,Black Queens,Black Satellites, andBlack Starlets, in addition to the Elite U-19 Championship.[88]
In 2018, MTN signed a five-year sponsorship deal with theZambia Super League, also known as the MTN Super League. It also is a sponsor of Zambian's national football team, the "Chipolopolo". Renewed in 2021, it was valued at ZMW 43 million (about $2 million) and considered one of the largest telecom sponsorships in African football.[89][90]
In 2023, the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) signed a five-year sponsorship deal with MTN Uganda worth 19 billion shillings (approx. $147 million). The sponsorship covers several teams and events: the Uganda Cranes, the Crested Cranes, the FUFA Drum regional cup, theFUFA Juniors League, FUFA Super 8 tournament, the FUFA Super Cup, and the FUFA Annual Awards.[93]
From 2013 to 2024 the MTN Foundation sponsored Nigerian Students with financial and educational grants worth ₦2.5 billion. In October 2024, over 1,000 students across each received a grant of ₦300,000.[94][95]
MTN has been criticised for its activities in Iran'stelecommunications sector. MTN has a 49 percent stake in government-controlledMTN Irancell, the second-largest mobile phone operator inIran, and 21 percent of MTN's subscriber base is from the country. In January 2012, the US-based advocacy groupUnited Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) launched a campaign publicly calling for MTN to scale back its operations in Iran and end its business in the country. UANI alleges that MTN technology is "enabling the Iranian government to locate and track individual cellphone users which it says is a violation of users' human rights".[96]
In June 2012,Reuters and theBBC reported an allegation by Chris Kilowan, a former executive for the company in Iran, that MTN Group may have been complicit in securing American telecommunications technology fromSun Microsystems,Hewlett-Packard andCisco Systems on behalf of Irancell, in violation of trade sanctions against Iran.Oracle, which owns Sun Microsystems, said that it was investigating and denied involvement, saying that it complies with US export laws. Hewlett-Packard issued a similar statement. MTN Group denied the allegations, saying that it complied withUS sanctions against Iran.[97]
Turkey'sTurkcell filed a $4.2 billion lawsuit in Washington, D.C., in 2012 alleging the company used bribery to win a mobile licence in Iran that was first awarded to Turkcell. The court delayed the case in October 2012 pending aUS Supreme Court decision on theAlien Tort Statute, theUS human rights law on which Turkcell's suit is based.[98] In May 2013,Turkcell dropped its multibillion-dollar US lawsuit against MTN Group, citing aUS Supreme Court ruling that hurt its case. On 27 November 2013, Turkcell resumed in Johannesburg.[99][100]
In 2015, the Nigerian subsidiary of MTN wasfined by theGovernment of Nigeria through the telecommunications regulator,Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for partial compliance of regulatory guidelines to Mobile Network Operators to disconnect from their network, all improperly registered Subscribers Identification Modules (SIM). The commission exercised section 20(1) of the Telephone Subscribers regulation (TSR) law on MTN, leading to a calculated fine of $5.2 billion, according to the constitution.
Thecompliance audit carried out by the NCC on MTN network revealed unregistered 5.2 million customers lines were not deactivated as directed. This led to the NCC fining MTN with the sum of $1000 for each unregistered SIM according to the Telephone Subscribers regulation (TSR) law, which amounted to $5.2bn.[101][102]
What followed was major resignations among the top echelon of the organization including the chief executive officer, Sifiso Dabengwa, the Head of Nigeria Operation, Micheal Ikpoki and the Head of Cooperate Affairs, Akinwale Goodluck being replaced with Phuthuma Nhleko, Ferdi Moolman and Amina Oyegbola as new chairman, managing director and Head of Corporate and Regulation respectively.[103]
The new management employed a diplomatic measure between the government of theRepublic of South Africa and its Nigerian counterpart to ameliorate the burden of the liabilities from the fine. This action brought about the reduction of the liability to $3.2 billion.[104][105][106]
In September 2021, MTN announced that it will close its zero-rated access to the popular social networkTwitter. As of early 2022, MTN has had poor internet connection throughout the country; the cause is still unknown.
US$5.22 billion (2015)
US$13.762 billion (2015)
Benin
Botswana
Cameroon
Republic of Congo
Eswatini
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea Bissau
Iran
Ivory Coast
Liberia
Nigeria
Rwanda
South Africa
Sudan
South Sudan
Uganda
Zambia
