MTN Implements Contingency Plans to Prepare for Stage 8 Loadshedding Following R695m Loss from Rolling Blackouts

Mobile network giant MTN suffered a significant loss of R695 million in 2022 alone due to constant load shedding, which impacted the availability of its network and business functions. In addition, the rolling blackouts that plagued the country for over 200 days last year have also affected customers’ ability to recharge and upgrade their packages, according to BusinessTech as reported by Briefly.

MTN is working on a resilience plan to reduce the impact of load shedding and has already upgraded over 3,000 sites by the end of February. The company plans to complete the optimization process by December 2023 to ensure consistent performance of the upgrades implemented through the resistance plan. With rumours that load shedding may ramp up to Stage 8 in July, MTN is collaborating with its partners to minimize the impact of load shedding on its revenue.

Although the load shedding crisis has caused significant damage to MTN, the company’s service revenue grew by 3.6% in 2022, while data revenue increased by 13.1%. However, South Africans have recently been plunged back into increased load shedding, with an energy expert warning that things could worsen in the coming months. Mathew Cruise, Hohm Energy’s Head of Business Intelligence, has stated that the country is at a 50% risk of experiencing further power outages with Stage 8 load shedding scheduled to occur in July. Eskom is reportedly preparing for Stage 8 load shedding in addition to the introduction of higher stages to the schedule.

Photo: Facebook / @MTN