On March 5, 2014, MTN, the leading telecommunications company on the African continent, announced its 2013 results at group head offices in Johannesburg. Revenues reached 136.5 billion rand (R136.5 billion, approximately US$13 billion or €9.4 billion), up 12% from 2012, and EBITDA of R59.8 billion ($5.7 billion or €4.1 billion) was 13% higher than in 2012. Subscribers reached 207.8 million, up by 9.8% and past the 200 million mark for the first time. Although the results were impressive at first glance, most of the gains had been due to a favorable translation effect, as the rand had fallen against many currencies over the previous year. On a constant currency basis, revenue was up by only 3.1%, and EBITDA by just 2%. These figures made clear that MTN’s performance had slowed dramatically. The number of subscribers seemed healthy, but spending per customer was softening and profits were eroding.
