The country’s biggest telecommunications provider, Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), is anticipating to take a leap into the financial services’ arena this year. Providing a glimpse into what can be expected, the company’s spokesman Tim Ekandjo last week hinted that MTC’s mobile financial services will indeed become a reality somewhere during the course of this year.
“We have promised our customers and shareholders that we will implement Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in our prospectus, and have every intention on delivering on that promise. MFS are simply products and services that a financial institution provides to its customers through mobile devices. Mobile companies have dominated this space, and MTC is in the best position to bring these services to our customers very soon,” he said during an interview with New Era.
Mobile financial services have grown exponentially during the last few years, as customers have come to prefer using mobile devices to access financial services and execute financial transactions. This includes both transactional and non-transactional services, such as viewing financial information on a user’s mobile device.
Meanwhile, Ekandjo commented on operating in a listed environment, as MTC officially took the company public towards the end of 2021. “It has been the most humbling journey so far. We had to step up our governance frameworks and become more transparent in all our dealings. For instance, we would never share our strategies publicly, but because we are now listed, all that information is openly available in our prospectus for everybody to see”.
He added that one of the biggest changes as a listed company is that MTC’s board of directors are now voted for during an annual general meeting, and not appointed by the line minister as used to be the case.
Said Ekandjo: “We now have to abide by the rules and regulations of the NSX and of course we now have another responsibility, which is to manage the share price, even though it is not always entirely in our control. As opposed to just having one shareholder which used to be government, we now have different shareholders. We have the responsibility to ensure that their expectations are met, as promised in our prospectus”.
The MTC spokesperson continued that as a listed entity, the company has done a lot of good work in the area of Environmental Sustainability, and launched their Sustainability Plan with clear action plans.
“Linked to that is the marvelous work we have done in the area of Corporate Social Investment, with the various projects that lies thereunder all promoting social upliftment in the areas of education, health, employment-creation, entrepreneurship and poverty alleviation. We have most recently appointed Deloitte & Touche to manage our hotline, where members of the public or our Ambassadors can report anything they feel goes against our governance principles. Also, as late as last year our board approved a housing allowance scheme for all MTC Ambassadors from grades A to D3 because our vision is to see all our Ambassadors owning their homes,” Ekandjo stated.
For the financial year ended 30 September 2022, MTC reported revenue of N$2.9 billion, representing growth of 3.7% growth from its last announcement. This translated to a growth in profit margins where the company recorded a 6.7% growth in its last financial year of N$793 million, compared to N$743.2 made in its previous financial year.
Although the economy remained under pressure subsequent to Covid-19, MTC showed that they managed to generate higher revenues by responding to customer needs for more cost-effective telecommunications.
MTC’s Net Profit after Tax decreased by 0.42% to N$395.7 million due to increased depreciation and amortisation related to significant capital expenditure realised during the last reporting period.