South African multinational mobile telecommunications company MTN Group no longer has a presence in Namibia after selling off its interest to its local partners, The Brief can exclusively reveal.
MTN was operating in the country through MTN Business Namibia, which was partly owned by Vaino Nghipondoka’s Profile Investment Holdings after it acquired a 30% stake in a 2017 deal.
The exit of MTN and its synonymous yellow branding, has seen the local business rebranded to Ucom Mobile.
“The disposal of MTN Business Namibia to its local shareholder Profile Technologies (Pty) Ltd was completed in August 2021, and MTN no longer has a presence in Namibia. The disposal was in line with our strategy to simplify and streamline our portfolio,” the global telco told The Brief.
It is not clear how much the local partners paid for MTN’s shares.
This comes five years after the MTN Group had announced plans to launch a mobile service in Namibia, a development that is still to take off the ground.
In February, NuRAN Wireless Inc, a leading supplier of mobile and broadband wireless infrastructure solutions, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with MTN Namibia for the deployment of rural and suburban sites under the network-as-a-service model in Namibia.
According to terms of the agreement, the parties intend to install a minimum of 150 rural and suburban networking sites in Namibia within the next 24 months, subject to the conclusion of a definitive agreement with a ten-year term within six months of signing the MOU.
The agreement is intended to provide mobile connectivity solutions through the NuRAN Revenue Share NAAS model. The NuRAN NAAS model facilitates network expansion for mobile operators by managing and controlling the build, operation, and maintenance of cellular sites along with associated capital expenditures.
The sites are then monetised by providing connectivity on a paid-for-service basis.
MTN has operated in Namibia for over 20 years, but has mainly provided internet services to individual customers, financial institutions and wholesale customers.
