Beneficiaries of MTN Ghana Foundation YEEP impacting communities
Beneficiaries of the MTN Ghana Foundation Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Project (YEEP) have begun training more youth in phone repairs within their communities. This comes a year after completing their skills training programme in phone repairs that qualified them for startup tool kits and ‘container’ kiosk at their preferred location to start business. During a visit to some beneficiaries in communities within the Suhum and Nsawam townships of the Eastern region, it was observed that most of the beneficiaries had apprentices at their workstations. In an interview, Mr. Derrick Awartey, who had two apprentices, said he had been so fortunate to participate in the project which provided a sustainable source of livelihood and put him in a better position to help others through apprenticeship. “At first, we sat by our parents but now you know you have a place to go to for something. With the little I get, I am not tempted to engage in any vice or rely on any man for support,” said Ms. Diana Ohene Ansah, another beneficiary. Mr. Ofori Enoch, a Beneficiary with four apprentices also commended MTN Ghana Foundation and its partners for empowering the youth through skills training. With guaranteed source of income, he said, life had become much better as he did not worry about meeting his financial obligations. Mrs. Cynthia Mills, Economic Empowerment Advisor of MTN Ghana Foundation, disclosed that out of the 100 participants selected for training through the various Assemblies, 84 managed to complete the one-month programme. She said there was a plan to scale up the training to include the repair of laptops and tablets to broaden the skill base of beneficiaries. “We are also looking at extending the project to other regions, but we are yet to settle on the regions,” she added. Apexnewsgh.com For publication please kindly contact us on 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com
MTN Group settles US$300 million eurobonds
Following on from strong first half 2022 results, MTN Group today announces the further deleveraging of the balance sheet with the early settlement of US$300 million in eurobonds with a 2024 maturity date.This brings MTN’s dollar-denominated debt down to 35% of total holding company (Holdco) debt on a H1 2022 proforma basis. In late August, MTN invited eligible holders of the US$750 million eurobond – due to mature in November 2024 – to tender their notes for purchase by the company for cash. The offer attracted tenders of more than US$482 million. This was significantly more than the US$250 million originally intended for early settlement. As a result, MTN raised the final acceptance amount to US$300 million, which will be settled on Tuesday 6 September 2022. “In line with our Ambition 2025 strategy, we are committed to deleveraging the balance sheet faster in line with our capital allocation framework,” said MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita. “This week’s early settlement supports delivery of this commitment as well as of the execution and delivery of our medium-term guidance to maintain the Holdco leverage below 1.5x.” MTN Group Chief Financial Officer Tsholofelo Molefe said that as the settlement would be funded from available cash balances, it did not affect the pro-forma Holdco leverage of 0.8x at 30 June 2022. “However, on a pro-forma basis, the settlement improves the end-June 2022 ratio of non-rand to rand debt to 35:65 from the 42:58 ratio reported in the Group’s interim results.” At end-December 2021, the Holdco leverage was 1.0x. The improvement in the first half of 2022 to 0.8x was boosted by the repatriation of R9.4 billion in cash from our operating companies (including R4.5 billion from MTN Nigeria). Apexnewsgh.com|Ghana For publication, kindly contact 0256336062 or Email: apexnewsgh@gmail.com
MTN Ghana to inject $1bn into network improvement by 2025
MTN Ghana has reaffirmed its commitment to lead the mobile telephony services in the country with projected US$1billion investment in network improvement by 2025. Mrs Georgina Asare Fiagbenu, the Acting Corporate Services Manager, told journalists at the 2022 Central Regional ‘Editors Forum’ in Cape Coast, that the move formed part of activities to transform the network in support of Ghana’s digital drive by ensuring that rural telephony sites as well as network extensions were provided. She hinted that the company would be rolling out 400 new sites whilst existing 746 sites would be upgraded to 4G to, among others, help enhance services to the more than 10 million worldwide subscribers of Ayoba, which had about 15 micro applications to provide good services to the customers. A total amount of GHC64,000,000 have been invested nationwide in sustainable community projects, including 87 educational projects, 13 economic empowerment projects and four support initiatives. MTN Ghana, in the first half of 2022, contributed about 29.6 per cent of its total revenue, amounting to approximately GHS1.4 billion in direct and indirect taxes, and payments to governmental Agencies according to Ghana’s half year Financial Results for 2022. They were in support of the company’s strong support for government’s developmental projects in digital solutions like Girls in ICT Extended partnership, ICT Hub project, Accra Innovation City project, and Ghana CARES framework support. On the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) re-registration, she noted, that MTN had increased registration points to enable customers go through the process with no stress. The company was also collaborating with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to set up 10 NIA registration points in key regions to enable individuals access the “Ghana Card” which was a caveat for the registration. “Of the over 2.8 million subscribers only 1.9 customers had linked their cards while 1.3 had fully re-registered their SIM cards. We urge all to give the SIM registration exercise a significant thought and not rush in at the eleventh hour,” Mrs Fiagbenu admonished. Mr Teddy Hayford Acquah, the Western and Central Regional Technical Manager of MTN-Ghana, was disturbed that despite the significant investments in telephone services, frequent damage to fibre-optic cabling across the country continued to hinder stable and effective network provision in some areas. He partly blamed the wonton practices to myriad of factors, particularly construction works, saying about 50 per cent of the fibre cuts were caused by road construction activities and private property developers. Buttressing his claim, he stated that the region recorded more than 142 fibre cuts in eight months and expressed fears that the number could rise to 170 by December this year. “MTN is concerned about fibre cuts in meters because, such incidences were the cause of network challenges in areas. “We are not sitting idle but working assiduously to resolve network challenges in about 28 kilometres in areas where this challenge exist because if we do not do that, it is possible to record over 170 cuts by the end of the year,” he stated. Additionally, he was exceedingly hopeful the Chamber of Telecommunication will commence negotiations with players in the construction industry to remedy the situation to help improve services to customers. The timely intervention by the Chamber of Telecos, according to him, will not only help mitigate fibre cuts incidences but enrich a sustainable stakeholder relation to deliver quality customer service regardless of one’s location. Mr Acquah employed the media to support and drive the awareness and sensitizations campaigns about the phenomenon of fibre optic cuts through their various platforms. Apexnewsgh.com
Mobile Money Limited handed over a 2-bedroom house worth over GHC 300,000.00 to Madam Rita Nhyiraba Tetteh
Mobile Money Limited has recognized the effort of Madam Nhyiraba Tetteh (lead Character of MTN MoMo advert. A.K.A Mensa Akaooo) at Dobro Nsumena. Madam Nhyiraba Tetteh on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, was handed over a 2 bedroom house by the Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Money Limited Mr. Eli Hini. Giving a little background on the introduction of Mobile Money into the system, Mr. Hini said: “Over a decade ago, we began the journey to create a convenient way of undertaking financial transactions with an electronic Money transfer system accessible via the mobile phone. We had a huge task of breaking down this service into very simple communication that will resonate with the masses and drive wide acceptance” According to him at a time, “…a script was developed by our advertising agency and a character was selected to live the script and that was wonderfully done by Madam Rita Nhyiraba Tetteh – the woman and voice behind “Me Nsa Aka ooooo” commercial”. “Madam Rita’s role and delivery as well the entire cast in MoMo’s first ever commercial played a significant role in appealing to the Ghanaian populace. From there, Madam Rita joined us across the length and breadth of the country as we created awareness about the MoMo service. Today, Madam Rita’s efforts as well as those of several others who believed in the opportunities MoMo presented at the time have yielded positive results”. He acknowledged He said, the impact and success stories have been telling – offering mobile financial services to the banked and unbanked, and creating job opportunities for millions of Ghanaians. Across Africa, Ghana has emerged as one of the shining examples of using mobile money innovation to drive a cash-lite society while enhancing financial inclusion across all levels of the economy. Today, many people within the informal sector who were left out of the financial ecosystem are all playing active roles in Ghana’s financial ecosystem through the mobile money intervention. “In view of the success chalked over the years, Mobile Money decided to honor all stakeholders who played very critical roles in the MoMo journey during our 10th Anniversary celebrations. At special stakeholders’ awards night, plagues and certificates of honor were presented to all stakeholders. However, we chose to handle Madam Rita’s contribution differently by engaging her to find out what will be most precious to her, and she told us she needed a permanent place of abode”. The CEO explained Mobile Money Limited decided to honor the request after she sent us the plan of the type of facility she wanted. Today, we are happy to honor our promise and present this 2-bedroom house worth over GHC 300,000.00 to Madam Rita Nhyiraba Tetteh. On behalf of Mobile Money Limited, MTN Ghana, and the rest of the MTN Group, we would like to thank you, Madam Rita, for lending us your image and voice on this successful journey. This is to recognize you and make you feel a part of our success story.! God bless you. As I conclude I would urge Madam Rita to take good care of the facility and observe a good maintenance culture that will preserve the facility for a long time. I would also like to also to encourage all our partners and stakeholders to remain resolute and loyal to the MoMo brand because we appreciate the critical roles you play in our business. Tomorrow, when the history and success story of Mobile Money Limited is being written, none of you, our partners, and stakeholders will be left out. Thank you all for your support and thank you for joining us this morning to celebrate Madam Rita. However, after receiving the building donation from Mobile Money Limited, Madam Tetteh expressed extremely excited about the kind gesture done to her by the Management of Mobile Money. She pledged to continue promoting the MoMo brand. Source: Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana
MTN Ghana launches 2022 MoMo month
Telecommunication giant, MTN Ghana has launched this year’s Mobile Money month in Accra. The 2022 edition is on the theme: ‘Accelerating Growth in Digital Payments – The Role of Partnerships’ is part of efforts to ensure digital inclusion. Speaking at the launch, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mobile Money Limited, Eli Hini said the feat chalked by MoMo is partly due to the mass awareness campaigns undertaken through the month-long campaign dubbed MoMo Month celebrations. He indicated that since 2012, MoMo month has been held annually to create awareness about the digital payment platform, drive financial inclusion and reward thousands of customers, agents and merchants. Mr. Hini noted that MTN MoMo has impacted the lives of millions of Ghanaians both home and abroad. Activities lined up to drive partnerships in the digital payment space during this year’s MoMo Month, he said include customer promos, digital fairs and market storms, stakeholder forum, a new initiative named as “Catch Them Young’ series, among others. Mr. Hini also thanked the various players in the industry who facilitated the launch of one the most revolutionary products to have been introduced onto the Ghanaian Finance market. “We say thank you to our Regulators, Partner Banks, Agents, and Merchants dotted across the length and breadth of Ghana” he added. For his part, General Manager for Sales Distribution of MTN Ghana, Abubakar Mohammed said the company’s decision to launch the MoMo Month at the Rawlings Park, a leading business hub in Ghana, is a testament that the company attaches great importance to businesswomen and small and medium businesses in the country.
MTN Ghana strategize to get majority SIM registered before July 31 deadline
MTN Ghana is enhancing its strategies to ensure that the millions of unregistered subscribers are registered before the July 31, 2022, deadline. The Company has started sending urgent messages to customers, who are not fully registered to do so before the deadline or risk having their SIM cards disconnected. A statement issued in Accra by Nana Kofi Asare, the Acting Chief Corporate Services Officer, MTN, said the Company had also launched an internal campaign dubbed: “GRAB, CHECK AND ACT (GCA).” The campaign is to encourage all staff, irrespective of their role to assist with the registration of customers. It said with the campaign, all MTN Staff had been tasked to check the registration status of customers they interacted with so that unregistered customers could be assisted to do so. The statement said in addition, MTN had deployed its field agents to communities with lowest registration numbers to get the customers registered. Mr Shaibu Haruna, Chief Sales and Distribution Officer of MTN Ghana, said: “We are nearly at the finish line and so we have intensified our efforts to reach out to all our customers.” He said they could not afford to lose customers due to non-registration and, therefore, encouraged all its customers to ensure their data/internet SIMs in their modems and other smart devices were fully registered. “We have created many channels (including our online portal – simregistration@mtngh.com) to ensure our customers register with ease. We are encouraging them to use the available channels that are convenient for them to speed up the registration process,” he added. The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization announced the mandatory registration of all SIM cards in Ghana in October, 2021. The registration exercise which started in October 2021 is scheduled to end on July 31,2022.
MTN Group CEO pays a day’s working visit to Ghana
MTN Group CEO and President Ralph Mupita has paid a day’s working visit to Ghana to engage some key stakeholders of the business and reiterate MTN’s commitment to help grow the telecommunications industry in Ghana. The Group CEO and his team of executives paid courtesy calls on the Bank of Ghana, Ghana Revenue Authority and Ministry of Finance to interact and discuss issues of mutual interest. During the visit to the Bank of Ghana Mr. Mupita expressed his appreciation to the Central Bank for the support given to the business over the years. In his remarks, the Governor of The Bank Dr. Ernest Addison congratulated MTN for the work done in the mobile financial services sector and indicated the BoG will count on the business to champion innovation and financial inclusion. Dr Addison was joined by the 2nd Deputy Governor Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi. Mr Mupita and his delegation then called on the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority Rev. Amishaddai Owusu-Amoah and his deputies where he commended Ghana for encouraging headline growth last year. In his engagements with the Ministry for Finance, Mr Mupita reiterated MTN Group’s commitment to the Ghana market and the company’s continuous support to the Government of Ghana in achieving its digital agenda. This is the third visit of the Group CEO to Ghana since he assumed office. The Group CEO is being accompanied by the Vice President for WECA Ebenezer Asante, CEO of MTN Ghana Selorm Adadevoh, CEO of Mobile Money Ltd Eli Hini, Chief Corporate Services Officer Sam Koranteng and Chief Finance Officer Antoinette Kwofie. The visit to Ghana is part of Ralph’s commitment to growing MTN’s business in the various markets by consistently engaging local authorities to understand their expectations and to foster cordial working relationship.
SIM re-registration: MTN to deploy mobile teams to curb long queues at service centres
Ghana’s leading telecommunications company, MTN has taken the decision to rollout measures to decongest its Service Centres for the ongoing SIM re-registration exercise. The re-registration of SIM cards with the Ghana Card commenced in October 2021 and expected to continue to the end of March 2022. Ghanaians are asked to re-register their SIM card with the Ghana Card or have it become dormant after the end of the deadline. In the last few weeks, Service Centers of the various network providers have been flood with thousands of Ghanaians trooping in on daily basis to have their SIM cards re-registered. Amid the inconveniences, MTN Ghana has decided to deploy mobile teams into the communities across the country to help decongest its Service Centres. Addressing journalist through a virtual media briefing on Thursday, January 6, 2022, Mr. Abubakar Mohammed, General Manager, Regional Sales & Distribution Southern Ghana for MTN Ghana said, “Going forward, to decongest we will have almost 200 community activations happening across the country and at the same time we will have the mobile teams that will also be going to the institutions to support them with the reregistration exercise.” Mr. Abubakar Mohammed continued, “We also have in plan to increase our devices to support the activations. So all these put together we believe we will be able to decongest our service Centres and also help customers.” For customers to help MTN Ghana smoothen the process even more, Ghanaians who are yet to re-register their SIM cards are encouraged to finish with the first step of the process before visiting the service centres or any of the mobile activation points. Customers can do that by dialing *404# and following the prompt to link their numbers with the Ghana Card to generate the unique code needed to finalise the re-registration.
MTN Ghana Surprises Christmas Babies with Hampers in Upper East Region
MTN Ghana together with its staff has once again demonstrated their unending love to all nursing mothers and their newborns delivered on Christmas and Boxing Day at the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital by donating hampers to them. Interestingly, it appears the year 2021 saw some level of increase of new babies with a total number of 17 delivered on 25th December unlike in 2020 when only 12 babies were delivered between Christmas and Boxing Day at the same facility. Meanwhile, addressing the media after the donation exercise, Richard Asamane, Upper East Regional sales manager of MTN said: “MTN commenced the baby hamper distribution in 2011, and we have so far distributed over 2,000 hampers including these years to babies born on Christmas Day. The donation is one of the many ways the MTN Ghana Foundation has catered for the health needs of several individuals and medical institutions across Ghana”. “We see the occasion as a season of giving and also of love and in the midst of Covid-19, MTN counts it very important to still reach out to our dear mothers and lovely babies born on Christmas Day to show them the MTN kind of love. “For the whole of Upper East, we are targeting 40 hampers distribution. “Is the joy of Christmas and we want to bring them these good tidies to share with their family amidst all, we also call on them that COVID is still real. So, in as much as we keep the celebration of Xmas, we need to keep the safety protocol to protect the baby from this pandemic”. Meanwhile, one of the nursing mothers at the scene Rita Kobila also expressed gratitude to MTN for touching their lives. “I am so happy for what MTN has done for us. We are so grateful and we wish they will continue touching lives in this manner. Most people came to maternity here without anything but as they are going home, they will carry sometime home for their newborn babies. So, may God continue to bless MTN everywhere you go. However, Mr. Asamane used the medium to extend their appreciation as he congratulated the mothers and also use the occasion to wish MTN customers and stakeholders a wonderful Merry Christmas and New Year. Aside from the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital, MTN officials also visited mothers of Christmas Day born at the Bongo District Hospital and the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo. Apexnewsgh.com/Ghana/Ngamegbulam Chidozie Stephen Please contact Apexnewsgh.com on email apexnewsgh@gmail.com for your credible news publications. Contact: 05555568093
Mobile Money agents to effect strike from Thursday
Mobile money agents across the country will activate a demonstration and strike on Thursday, 23 December 2021 to express their displeasure against the 1.75 percent E-levy proposed in the 2022 budget. In a statement signed by the General Secretary of the Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana (MMAAG), Mr. Evans Otumfuo, said: “The union wishes to inform the general public, customers and users of mobile money that as part of actions to register our total displeasure with the government’s proposed e-levy of 1.75 percent, we deem it necessary to embark on an industrial action”. “As an association that implements all mobile money policies through our operators, we see this levy as very regressive and critical to the survival of our businesses”. “Consequently, as part of our demonstration on Thursday, 23 December 2021, our services as mobile money agents will not be accessible across the country”. “All agents will go on strike, hence all outlets will remain closed. If all efforts remain futile, an indefinite action will be taken thereafter”, the group’s statement stressed.