The joint venture formation and tender selection work committee that was appointed by the government of Myanmar to oversee the award of the country’s fourth telecom licence has communicated the extension of the deadline to submit an expression of interest to no later than January 8, 2016. The deadline had initially been set at December 18, 2015.

MTN Group and Telefónica Group jointly announced the signing of a strategic partnership agreement, which enables both telecommunications operators to work together to benefit from their joint scale, combined expertise and market access. The partnership is supported by the Telefónica Partners Programme, an initiative launched by Telefónica in 2011, which includes other leading telcos covering a total of 35 markets in Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Middle East.

Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will work together to capture synergies in a number of strategic areas. Many of the initial areas are aiming to improve both companies’ stand in regards to enterprise customers, including services to multinational companies in each other’s footprint, collaboration in M2M and new digital products, and services targeting the B2B segment.

Additionally, the groups will also cooperate in various strategic initiatives and exchange best practices to capture new industry opportunities. Both companies will also enter into discussions on how to engage effectively in international wholesale, devices and network/IT procurement.

MTN Group and Telefónica teams may also engage in other business areas under the scope of the strategic agreement, such as alignment in key technology projects in network and IT, new initiatives (such as mobile money or big data projects), and collaborate on commercial and marketing strategies. The companies will collaborate bilaterally on these and other selected areas.

The mutual collaboration is expected to provide a stronger basis to compete globally in the changing telecommunications industry.

The government of Myanmar has announced it will award a fourth nationwide telecommunications service licence by the first half of 2016. The joint venture formation and tender selection work committee has been set up by the government to oversee the process of awarding the licence to the final awardee.

The tender committee is forming the joint venture corporation in the step-by-step process as follows:

Phase 1: Selecting the domestic public companies

Phase 2: Shortlisting a limited number of suitable foreign telecom operators

Phase 3: Finalising the selection of the preferred foreign telecom operator and applying for the licence to be granted by Posts and Telecommunications Department.

As the next step, interested entities are required to submit an expression of interest on December 18, 2015 to the tender committee.

On December 3, 2015 shareholders were informed that MTN had received a formal letter dated December 2 from the Nigeria Communications Commission (the first letter) informing MTN that, after considering its request, the regulator had taken the decision to reduce the fine imposed on the MTN Nigerian business from the original N1.04 trillion (US$5.25 billion) (the original fine) to N674 billion, which had to be paid by December 31, 2015. The fine relates to the late disconnecting of 5.1 million MTN Nigerian subscribers in August and September 2015. This was a reduction of 35 per cent of the original fine.

Late on December 3, 2015, the day after receipt of the first letter, MTN received a further letter from the NCC dated December 3 (the second letter). The second letter, which was stated to supersede the first, informed MTN that the fine had actually been reduced by 25 per cent to N780 billion and not by 35 per cent to N674 billion, as was stated in the first letter. The payment date remained December 31, 2015.

Neither the first nor the second letter sets out any details on how the reduction was determined.

MTN said in a statement it is carefully considering both the first and second letters, and the executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko will immediately and urgently re-engage with the Nigerian authorities before responding formally, as it is essential for MTN to follow due process to ensure the best outcome for the company, its stakeholders and the Nigerian authorities, and accordingly all factors having a bearing on the situation will be thoroughly and carefully considered before MTN arrives at a final decision.

MTN Group has reviewed its operating structure and has resolved to re-implement its previous reporting structure. This will see MTN Group restructured into three regions – namely West and Central Africa (WECA), South and East Africa (SEA), and Middle East and North Africa (MENA).  MTN has also made a number of senior appointments to support this structure.

Effective December 1, 2015, Jyoti Desai assumed the new position of group chief operating officer. Based in Johannesburg, she reports to the executive chairman, Phuthuma Nhleko. Desai has 14 years’ experience at MTN. She has previously held the positions of chief information officer at MTN Nigeria, was COO of MTN Irancell and was recently seconded to support the Nigerian country operations. Her replacement as group chief technology and information officer will be announced soon.

Two regional vice presidents have been appointed, also reporting to the executive chairman. The VP for WECA is Karl Toriola, with Ismail Jaroudi the VP for MENA. The VP for SEA will be announced soon. 

Based in Nigeria, Toriola has been at MTN for 10 years, having held senior operational roles at MTN Group and MTN Iran. He was formerly also the CTO at MTN Nigeria and CEO at MTN Cameroon.

Jaroudi has been CEO of MTN Syria since 2006. Prior to this he held senior operational roles for Investcom’s subsidiaries across the Middle East and North Africa.

Also reporting to the executive chairman is the new group executive for M&A, Matthew Odgers. The former head of TMT for Africa & the Middle East and head of investment banking for MENA at UBS, Odgers led UBS’s overall relationship with MTN.

MTN Nigeria’s CEO Michael Ikpoki and the head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, Akinwale Goodluck have tendered their resignations with immediate effect. They are replaced by Ferdi Moolman as MTN Nigeria CEO and Amina Oyagbola as its head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs. Moolman was previously COO at MTN Irancell and most recently CFO at MTN Nigeria.   A Nigerian national, Oyagbola also retains the position of MTN Nigeria’s head of Human Resources. She formerly headed regulatory affairs at the Nigerian operating company.

The search for the MTN Group CEO is underway and remains a priority.