JOHANNESBURG, South Africa-South African mobile network operator MTN announced that it has begun exploring the notion of outsourcing its network services and base stations for services. The move is expected to see an injection of cash into the company.
However, Yvonne Muthien, MTN corporate affairs executive, said the objective of the strategy is not the quick injection of cash into the company but to improve operational efficiencies.
Muthien added that the company had not reached a decision on the strategy and had not even issued the tenders. Speculation in South Africa has been rife that the network would use the outsourcing method to service the offshore debt incurred in setting up the MTN Nigeria mobile network.
Muthien said this would be an ideal method of addressing such a debt, but that permission would have to be granted from the South African Reserve Bank and the National Treasury before such a strategy could be pursued.
