President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to telecommunications provider MTN for its role in providing jobs for millions of South Africans and people across Africa.
The president made these comments at a dinner where the company celebrated its 30 years of existence.
“In countries like South Africa, MTN has sought to ensure that no one is left behind,” he added.
Ramaphosa said the network reaches 97% of the population, providing a foundation for digital inclusion and economic empowerment.
MTN started as a small tech start-up with around 20 employees and has grown into a tech juggernaut that now employs over 17,000 people across 18 diverse markets.
“The mobile sector in Sub-Saharan Africa generated more than $140 billion of economic value last year. MTN is a big part of this growth story,” the president said.
“The group provides voice, data, fintech, digital, enterprise, wholesale and API services to 288 million customers in 18 markets. MTN Mobile Money provides over 65 million individuals with access to financial services, driving financial inclusion and economic empowerment in underserved communities,” he said.
Ramaphosa said that MTN has also played a major role in helping democratise public goods and services.
“It has enabled the provision of financial, health, education, social welfare and other service to the most far-flung areas. At the time of the transition towards democracy in the early 1990s, South Africa was among the most connected nations on the continent with over 3 million landlines,” he explained.
“Yet, as in almost every other area of life, access to telephony was severely unequal. At the time, there were 60 telephone lines for every 100 white people. There was only one line for every 100 black people.”
“In these circumstances, it took visionaries like the late Dr Nthato Motlana and Zwelakhe Sisulu to see the potential of mobile technology to close this gap,” he noted.
MTN claims another top spot
In October, MyBroadband's 2024 Mobile Network Quality Report revealed that MTN has the best mobile network in South Africa.
This was after significant investments in infrastructure and technology were made at MTN over the last financial year.
The report is based on 296,277 speed tests performed by 6,989 mobile data users across South Africa between July 1, 2024, and September 30 2024.
The testing included data from crowdsourced users and dedicated drive tests, ensuring a balanced and accurate representation of real-world network performance.
MTN achieved an impressive average download speed of 106.22 Mbps, significantly ahead of its closest competitor, Vodacom, which recorded 94.07 Mbps.
The company also excelled in major cities, including Tshwane, Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Nelson Mandela Bay, where it was the top performer.
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