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MTN Group, Africa’s largest telecom operator, is not in active discussions to acquire South African rival Telkom SA, Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita said Friday, quashing speculation of a revived takeover.
“There are no talks with advisers between ourselves and Telkom. We did discuss this at some time in the past, but there are no active discussions,” the Zimbabwean-born executive told reporters. Mupita added, however, that he could not completely rule out future engagement.
The remarks came a day after reports suggested MTN was reconsidering a takeover bid for Telkom, which owns South Africa’s biggest fiber network. Telkom shares surged 13 percent on Thursday on the news, before paring gains and closing 8 percent lower Friday.
Market pressures drive consolidation push
MTN walked away from buyout talks with Telkom in 2022 after the two sides failed to reach an agreement. But Mupita has long argued that South Africa’s telecom industry, currently dominated by four operators, needs to consolidate to remain profitable.
“The market structure must evolve towards two operators,” he said. “Profit pools are limited, and you can see that in the margins generated by the number two and number three players.” A smaller pool of operators, Mupita said, would mirror trends in Europe, where consolidation has allowed telecom companies to achieve stronger margins while sustaining heavy infrastructure investments.
While MTN is aggressively pursuing home connectivity, Mupita stressed that the company has no intention of replicating Telkom’s costly fiber rollout. “The build is completely off the table,” he said. “South Africa has enough fiber. It would be a poor allocation of capital to start building from scratch.” Instead, MTN plans to pursue partnerships or acquisitions “at the right price and time” to expand in fiber-to-the-home.
Expanding footprint beyond South Africa
Under Mupita, MTN has grown into a 298-million-subscriber business spanning 16 markets. In the first half of 2025, revenue surged 23 percent to $6 billion, driven by a 37.5 percent boost in Nigeria and a doubling of revenue in Ghana. The Johannesburg-based group is also broadening its digital services. In July, MTN partnered with UK-based Synamedia to launch a streaming platform aimed at African audiences, bolstering its mobile and broadband ecosystem.
