Following a four-year slump, MTN Cameroon achieved growth in 2019.

According to the company’s consolidated results for 2019 released on 11 March 2020 in Johannesburg, MTN Cameroon managed to garner FCFA 218.7-billion in turnover, a 3.2% increase from the previous year. The rebound in turnover started in the fourth quarter of 2018 and was consolidated at close to 10% during the last six months of 2019.

This was driven by a strong progression in data services with close to 3,5 million users and sustained growth in the mobile money business which today records over 8 million subscribers.

The company closed the year with circa 10.1 million subscribers - being 49.5% of the market share and a 26.25% increase within its customer base, with nearly 2 million new subscribers.

MTN maintained its dominant position within the country's telecommunications market, outpacing Orange, Camtel and Viettel (Nexttel).

MTN Cameroon’s strategy to focus on service quality, network expansion and its mobile money business worked to ensure it was able to withstand external challenges, including drawn-out armed conflict in the English-speaking regions and related vandalism of its infrastructure.

The company also suffered a reduction in mobile termination rates.

Hendrik Kasteel, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Cameroon said: “We have been able to achieve a very good performance in a difficult environment. With ten million subscribers and improved positive performance quarter after quarter since the end of 2018, MTN Cameroon is now well positioned to enter a new phase of growth.”

On Monday, MTN Group shares fell by a record 15%, the lowest in close to 14 years, over concerns of the impact of falling oil prices on the Nigerian economy – where its biggest and most profitable subsidiary operates.

Analysts also fear the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy could compromise MTN’s growth trajectory in Cameroon in 2020.