MTN Sells Guinea-Conakry Business to Guinean Government

MTN Group, the South African telecom giant, has officially exited Guinea-Conakry by selling its local operation to the State of Guinea. This move, confirmed on December 30, 2024, is part of MTN’s broader Ambition 2025 strategy to streamline its portfolio and focus on markets with stronger growth potential.

MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita, emphasized the strategic importance of the sale:

“This milestone marks a new phase for MTN Guinea-Conakry under local ownership. Concluding this transaction is in line with our strategy to simplify the portfolio and allocate capital to markets where we can deliver long-term growth and returns.”

MTN’s Guinea-Conakry operation, which had over 3 million subscribers as of September 2024, is relatively small compared to its larger markets like Nigeria (77 million subscribers) and Ghana (28.6 million subscribers).

Challenges in Guinea-Conakry

The Guinean operation faced significant hurdles, including regulatory disputes. In January 2024, MTN’s offices in Almamya and Coleah were sealed by the local regulator due to a licensing fee dispute.

• In 2011, MTN resolved another license issue by paying €15 million to the Guinean government.
• Such challenges have made Guinea-Conakry a less favorable market for MTN.

MTN’s West African Exits

This sale follows MTN’s exit from Guinea-Bissau earlier in 2024, when it sold the operation to Telecel Group. The sales align with MTN’s strategy to reduce exposure in subscale markets unable to fund their own growth.

“Some markets are very difficult. We’re not the best owners of those businesses because they’re subscale or they’re small,” Mupita told Connecting Africa.

Initially, Liberia was also on MTN’s exit list, but the group decided to retain it as it is a dollarized market with self-sustaining growth potential.

MTN’s Middle East Downsizing

The Guinea-Conakry sale is part of a broader strategy that has seen MTN streamline operations globally. In the Middle East, MTN:

• Exited Yemen in November 2021
• Abandoned Syria in August 2021
• Sold its Afghanistan business in February 2024

MTN’s sole remaining Middle Eastern operation is a 49% stake in MTN Irancell, held as part of a joint venture.

MTN’s Future Focus

While scaling down in West Africa and the Middle East, MTN continues to operate in 15 other African countries. Its focus remains on markets where it can deliver sustainable growth, aligning with its Ambition 2025 strategy.

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