Benin threatens to silence MTN and other mobile operators

(Reuters) - Benin suspended two of its four mobile phone operators on Monday and threatened to silence their networks from Thursday if they did not sign new contracts that include a $50 million, 500 percent rise in the operator fee.

The West African country's Telecommunications Regulation Authority issued a statement on Friday suspending the operating contracts of South Africa-listed MTN and Atlantique Telecom's "Moov" service with effect from Monday, saying both companies had changed their names without its permission.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Miners, MTN drag South African bourse down

(Reuters) - Mining stocks, led by Anglo American, and mobile operator MTN pushed South Africa's blue chip Top-40 index lower on Monday, amid investor concern about lower metal prices and a possible interest rate hike.

The Top-40 ended 0.59 percent lower at 26,139 points while the broader All-share index closed down 0.62 percent at 28,914 points.


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S.Africa bourse hits peak, platinum shares, MTN rally

(Reuters) - South African stocks moved to another record high on Friday, lifted by platinum, banking and telecoms shares.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks ticked 0.40 percent higher to 24,590.20 points, while the All-share index gained 0.43 percent to 27,267.24 points.


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MTN 2006 adj headline EPS at 584.7 cts

(Reuters) - MTN, sub-Saharan Africa's biggest cell phone operator, posted annual adjusted headline EPS of 584.7 cents in line with its own forecast as it signed up new subscribers and made acquisitions.

MTN said on Thursday it had 40 million subscribers at the end of December, up 73 percent from a year earlier.


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S.Africa Top-40 up 1.5 pct after Asia, US recover

South Africa's blue chip Top-40 index rose 1.5 percent in early trade on Thursday, boosted by mining stocks and mobile phone group MTN after U.S. and Asian markets recovered.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

S.African stocks tick higher, telecoms in favour

South African stocks finished barely firmer on Monday as investors bought up telecoms firms like MTN, but jitters returned about the so-called yen carry trade.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks edged 0.31 percent higher to 23,406.70 points, well off its intraday peak, and the wider All-share index added 0.34 percent to 26,012.12 points.

The Top-40 index has gained 3.5 percent so far this year, but is 3.6 percent off a record peak touched last month.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

MTN cuts data rates

MTN has reduced rates on data contracts and data bundles by up to 20%.

MTN South Africa's General Manager: Consumer Marketing, Donovan Smith, says: "We believe that the broader population, both contract and Pay as you Go customers, can benefit immensely from having affordable access to broadband, and as Network Operators we need to acknowledge the obvious barriers to entry.

Read more at FIN24.co.za

Economics vs your shares

Watch these economic variables as they exert a big influence on your shares.

Share prices are sensitive things, reacting to news from far-flung places. Think for example, about how political developments in oil-rich Iran work wonders on Sasol's share price, and how the same news sends shudders down the spines of MTN investors (as MTN is rolling out a network in Iran, which needs to be ready by August).

A company's value, return and share price reflects the perception of its earnings and profit flow. If any news is perceived to affect a company's future profits adversely, its share price falls. Remember how Sasol's share price took a knock on Budget day (February 15) this year, when Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said government was considering levying a tax on the company's windfall profits? In the space of an afternoon, millions were wiped of Sasol's market cap as investors hurried to offload their shares for fear that profits may be affected.

An important component of the constant flow of information that can influence share prices is the change in economic variables both in South Africa and the world's biggest economy, the USA.

Read the full article at MoneyWeb.co.za

MTN, others axe roaming costs

Three east African mobile phone firms on Thursday scrapped roaming charges for their subscribers in the region in a bid to boost their customer base.

Under the new arrangement, Kenya's Safaricom, South African MTN, which operates in Uganda, and Tanzania's Vodacom joined up to enable more than 10 million subscribers in East Africa to make calls and send messages at local rates.

Read more at FIN24.co.za