A union official today revealed that South Africa’s MTN Group is planing to lay off around 850 managerial staff.
This is as a result of slowing growth and tough competition in its home market.
The operator which is Africa’s largest telecommunications group has expanded rapidly in the last two decades across the continent and in the Middle East but is facing stiff competition in South Africa, where the market is dominated by rival Vodacom.
“We have just received a massive retrenchment notice at MTN Group,” said Marius Croucamp, a spokesman at the Solidarity Union, which largely represents
MTN’s revenue from South Africa fell by 7 per cent to 19.2 billion rand ($1.8 billion) in the first half of this year while its margins also declined.
An MTN spokeswoman said it would be issuing a statement shortly. Its shares were down 1.8 per cent at 10:46GMT.
Source: CNBC Africa
