MTN to launch mobile service in Namibia

MTN Group, Africa’s biggest mobile telecoms firm, is aiming to launch a mobile service in Namibia around the end of August, a company executive told Reuters.

Currently state-owned operator MTC dominates in Namibia, a country of 2 million people.

Johannesburg-listed MTN has operated in Namibia for over 20 years but has mainly provided internet services to financial institutions, wholesale customers and logistics institutions.

It already offers mobile services in other African countries including South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana, as well as Iran.

“We are working towards end of August,” Hester Marais, an executive at MTN Namibia, said in an interview.

MTN plans to use state-owned Telecom Namibia’s network infrastructure for its mobile service. It also plans to enter the local mobile money market.

REUTERS