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MTN Group is pleased to announce that it has joined the Joint Audit Cooperation (JAC) and the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), two globally recognised industry bodies committed to promoting technologies and practices that foster environmental, social and governance sustainability.

These memberships are a vital step in the realisation of MTN’s sustainability vision of creating shared value for our stakeholders through responsible economic, environmental and social practices.  

“As the leading operator in many of our markets, we recognise that in partnering with JAC and GeSI we have a significant opportunity to contribute to the collective agenda of driving greater adoption of sustainable environmental and social practices across our supply chain and the sector. This is how we realise the outcomes we aim for in placing ESG at the core,” says MTN Group Executive for Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Nompilo Morafo.

Telecommunications is a rapidly changing industry, vibrant with emerging technologies and competitive disruptors that are altering established business models and creating new sustainability-related opportunities and risks.

MTN Group Executive for Procurement & Supply Chain Management Dirk Karl says: “We recognise the unique blend of know-how that these two well-established bodies bring. In joining, we are able to verify the sustainability performance levels of our top 20 suppliers and their sub suppliers who have already been audited. The memberships also provide a platform to further enhance the audit coverage across our supplier base.”

Members of JAC – which was founded in 2010 and whose members include many of the world’s largest telecoms operators – share resources and best practices to develop long-term corporate social responsibility implementation in the different tiers of the ICT supply chain globally. Collaboration between the largest operators promotes sustainable sourcing globally.

“On behalf of JAC and its member companies, we are very pleased to welcome MTN on-board with us and look forward to working together. This provides us with further diversity from African and Middle Eastern continents in our collaboration on making progress on supply chain sustainability topics and issues,” says Paras Shah, JAC Chairman.

GeSI works to facilitate real-world solutions to real-world issues by contributing towards a sustainable future, communicating the industry’s corporate responsibility efforts and driving the sustainability agenda.

“GeSI’s mission is to help create a smarter, more sustainable world with digital solutions at its core,” said Luis Neves, Global CEO of GeSI. “We are thrilled to have a company like MTN, a leader in its industry sector and region, join us as a Member. Their engagement reinforces GeSI’s work to harness innovative digital solutions as a force for good as we commit to the 2030 Agenda. We look forward to a long partnership with MTN.”

MTN strives to always conduct business in a way that supports the long-term sustainability of the societies in which we operate. To meet these objectives, we conduct business with suppliers and partners who share our commitment to high ethical standards and operate in a responsible manner.

To provide our customers with the products and services they need, MTN relies on a multi-faceted and multi-layered global supply chain, which consists of approximately 15 000 suppliers. Not many telcos – particularly pan-African telcos – are members of both JAC and GeSI. By becoming a member of both organisations, MTN can ensure ethical, sustainable, environmentally responsible supply chain partners.

MTN Group today publishes our suite of 2020 reports – including the Integrated, Sustainability, Transparency and Tax Reports – covering how the Group performed in the year and how we delivered on our commitments to stakeholders.

“2020 was unprecedented in the challenges and opportunities that the COVID-19 pandemic created across the markets we operate in. In the year, the Group focused on building resilience and sustainability and positioning the business for accelerated growth given the digital acceleration occasioned by the pandemic,” comments MTN Group Chairman Mcebisi Jonas.

The reports detail the impact of COVID-19 on our markets and business; the Group’s support to stakeholders in these challenging times; our work to manage the risks of pandemic; and our plans to make the most of the opportunities. These factors played a part in shaping MTN Group’s repositioned strategy, Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress, which is detailed throughout our reports.

MTN Group’s 2020 Integrated Report tells the MTN value-creation story clearly and concisely, reflecting integrated thinking. Enhancements to the report this year include a thorough discussion on the new strategy, as well as dedicated sections on COVID-19, the Group’s outlook and our key issues.

Under the new Ambition 2025 strategy, one of the Group’s four priorities is to ‘create shared value’, with environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles at the core.

“COVID-19 has exacerbated underlying economic and social inequalities and is unfolding at the same time as a mounting climate crisis. As a result, instilling sound ESG principles is fundamental to building resilience and ensuring that MTN is future-fit and plays its role in building sustainable societies,” says MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita. “Diversity and inclusion are important aspects of future sustainable societies and although we have made good progress with greater representation of women at senior levels in the company, there is still a lot of work to do.”

The Sustainability Report details our commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2040, as well as the naming of Nkululeko Sowazi, chair of the MTN Group Social and Ethics Committee, as the MTN Group designated Board member responsible for ensuring climate risks and opportunities are appropriately addressed within the company.

In 2020, MTN Group advanced digital and financial inclusion by reducing by a third the cost to communicate and enabling over $152 billion of transactions through extending Mobile Money services for customers and small and medium enterprises.

By investing nearly R29 billion in the year, we extended network coverage to more people. We also connected more of the unconnected through MTN Data-Smart’s digital literacy initiative. Available in eight African markets, this has now been used to train more than 18 million people about the power of the internet.

On 1 April, three women entered key leadership roles at MTN Board and Executive Committee level, helping the Group reach a milestone of 33% women at Board level and 28% at Exco level, both above African and global averages.

Through our CSI efforts, in 2020 MTN impacted 23,8 million people, of whom 10,5 million were youth, providing them with the ICT skills and opportunities to help them become economically active.

Our Transparency Report seeks to provide an understanding of our operating environment, risks and approach to digital human rights across our footprint.

In many of the countries in which the Group operates, MTN is one of the largest taxpayers. This comes with the responsibility to report thoroughly and transparently on our tax affairs. MTN Group’s 2020 Tax Report spells out our total tax contribution, which goes well beyond the corporate income taxes paid on profits to include indirect taxes, withholding taxes, payroll taxes, operating licence fees and other payments to authorities.

In 2020, MTN Group’s total tax contribution was R35,1 billion, up from R30,5 billion in 2019. This was just one of the ways the Group contributed to enhancing sustainable societies.

“We believe that this suite of reports will provide stakeholders with a comprehensive and integrated understanding of the progress and achievements of the MTN Group, as well as the priorities over the short, medium and longer term,” concludes Mupita. To access reports: https://www.mtn.com/investors/financial-reporting/integrated-reports/

As the impacts of climate change become increasingly visible around the world, MTN believes in the benefits of a healthy planet and has pledged its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

With global warming on the rise and impacting countries, communities and people everywhere, MTN has set science-based targets to achieve a 47% average reduction in absolute emissions (tCO2e) for scope 1, 2 and 3 by 2030.

“As we build and operate the telecommunications infrastructure to drive greater digital and financial inclusion, we believe that our growth and success should not come at the expense of the future of our planet,” says MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita. “We must keep addressing the needs and challenges of society, which include playing our part in mitigating the effects of climate change.”

GHG emission-reduction target-setting, like that adopted by MTN, is in line with an ICT sectoral target-setting approach recently developed through a collaboration between the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), the GSM Association (GSMA), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). These targets support the Paris Agreement’s central aim of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change.

To realise its targets, MTN has launched its Project Zero programme to leverage the latest technologies and service partners to enable business sustainability via greater energy efficiencies, low carbon emissions, risk reduction and cost control. The programme prioritises renewable solutions, efficient emerging technologies and energy storage.

 “We believe ICT companies and mobile operators have the potential to significantly contribute to global decarbonisation efforts,” says MTN Group Chief Technology and Information Systems Officer Charles Molapisi. “We are pleased that Project Zero is in full swing, actively driving energy efficiency and carbon emission sustainability.”

The GSMA supports the science position on climate change realities and emissions limits set by the Paris Agreement. MTN is a member of the GSMA’s Climate Action Taskforce driving the mobile industry-wide plan to back the Race to Net Zero. The aim is to ensure a resilient, zero-carbon future that leaves no one behind.

 “We are excited about this next chapter in the MTN story and we recognise that we need to run and operate our business with sustainability at the core.  We have a role to play in Africa and the Middle East to contribute meaningfully on much-needed actions to mitigate the impact of climate change, that’s why we are committed to achieve net-zero emissions by no later than the end of 2040,” concludes Mupita.

Because transparency and disclosure are critical in MTN’s response, we participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project in alignment with the Taskforce Recommendations on Climate-related Financial Disclosures.

MTN Group today published its Group Integrated, Sustainability and Tax Reports for the year ending 31 December 2019, illustrating the significant economic and social impact it has delivered through the group to the markets it operates in across Africa and the Middle East. The three reports set out how the company delivered growth and unlocked value by continuing to focus on executing its BRIGHT strategy. They also show how MTN operations strive to ensure that all who are touched by our products and services are positively impacted.

Delivering on our strategy in a more agile way

Our 2019 Integrated report highlights the progress we have made against our strategy and the value created by developing and distributing a range of innovative and reliable communication products and services. We also share our intention to harness the pioneering spirit MTN has built over the last 25 years to accelerate the implementation of our strategy in a more agile way in close collaboration with our many partners, with whom we are #GoodTogether.

Key highlights:

Contributing to infrastructure and government revenue

The infrastructure we build supports the development of the technology which boosts local economies. MTN invested R26 billion in its networks and systems in 2019. MTN is also among the largest taxpayers in many of our markets and MTN’s tax contributions for the year under review amounted to R31 billion, up from R24 billion in 2018. Tax contributions include corporate taxes, indirect taxes, withholding taxes, payroll taxes, operating licence fees and other payments to government authorities.

This stemmed from contributions made in South Africa of R4,6 billion, Nigeria of R6,7 billion, SEAGHA of R9,3 billion, WECA of R6,7 billion and MENA of R3,2 billion.

PwC Building Public Trust Award

Our 2018 tax report was selected from the tax reports of the top 100 JSE listed companies. An independent panel of judges reviewed the tax reports and MTN was awarded first place for the PwC Building Public Trust Award amongst South African based multinational companies. This award is given for excellence in tax reporting.

Driving broader socio-economic benefits to society

“To make an impact on meeting the UN SDGs by 2030, we need to deepen our focus, acting collectively and decisively. Having often reflected on this objective, I believe we can achieve this if we come together through our connected and shared humanity to collaborate effectively through partnerships,” said MTN President and Group CEO Rob Shuter.

“What we are most proud of are the partnerships we have made and the impact they have had. Three in particular come to mind: 1) Rapid rural roll-out programme (R3) with our various partners, in 2019 we saw over 1300 sites reaching 6,9 million people, 2) Internet Watch Foundation partnership to make children safer online, we successfully blocked 2 million URLs containing child sexual abuse material, 3) Signing up to the GSMA-led industry-wide plan to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050  in line with the Paris Agreement.”

We view sustainability as an integral part of MTN’s value creation journey now and into the future. We strive to create and protect shared value for our stakeholders through responsible economic, environmental and social practices. Key points from the 2019 Sustainability report are as follows:

Rob added that: “Access to the internet has the power to change lives and bridge inequalities, we are contributing to accelerating digital and financial inclusion by connecting the unconnected. We believe that by contributing to the prosperity of Africa and the Middle East, we are creating shared value for all.

Another key example of this: MTN’s Mobile money and Homeland solutions which are not only facilitating the flow of money into Africa from the Diaspora, but between different regions in Africa, setting the stage to enable African Continental Free Trade Area’s vision of creating a single market across the African continent.” 

MTN’s response to COVID-19

As business and society, we are seeing a concerning increase in the transmissions of COVID-19 cases across multiple countries. To mitigate its impact, we are implementing several measures to support our employees, customers, partners, communities and our business during this time of uncertainty for all of us. These measures include the establishment of a Global Staff-Care Emergency Fund which will be utilised for preventative health and safety, treatment, and emergency lockdown sustenance provisions. We are also rolling out relief products and services under the ‘Y’ello Hope Crisis Package’ umbrella across MTN to enable customers to access critical health and education information, and mobile money services. Our investment focus at this time is on resilience and capacity in our networks.

“As I write, we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and there is much uncertainty as to how and when society will emerge from it. The impact of COVID-19 on worldwide economies is challenging and our commitment remains steadfast to do all we can to minimise the economic and social impact across our markets. MTN Group cares because MTNers care – we have dynamic and passionate employees who continue to empower us to reach new heights in our journey,” concluded Rob.

Click here to access the reports.

MTN Group has released its integrated and sustainability reports for the period ending 31 December 2018, setting out how the group creates value and highlights the six distinct growth opportunities the company is pursuing across the voice, data, digital, fintech, enterprise and wholesale markets.

The integrated report is MTN’s primary communication to stakeholders and aims to enable them to make an informed assessment of MTN’s performance and prospects. It is the company’s value-creation story. The sustainability report aims to provide a balanced, accurate and accessible overview of MTN’s strategy and performance relating to socio-economic, labour and environmental issues, and ethics and human rights.

As part of efforts to enhance digital inclusion, in 2018, the company started executing its dual-data strategy aimed at enhancing digital inclusion. Other key highlights include the expansion of active data users by 10 million to 79 million. The company highlights the growth in MTN Mobile Money users to 27 million, with services revenues of approximately R8bn as part of its efforts to drive financial inclusion.

In 2019, the company will continue implementing its CHASE framework to accelerate internet adoption by addressing issues related to quality coverage, handset availability, affordability, services and education to bring new opportunities to people previously excluded from the digital world.

MTN will also extend initiatives to make smartphones more accessible and affordable, mainly through the launch of its low-cost 3G smart-feature phone, priced at approximately US$25. MTN also plans to launch Mobile Money in South Africa, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Sudan and launch an advanced instant messaging and communications platform.

“As MTN, we are focused on solutions to enhance digital and financial inclusion and transform societies. We firmly believe that technology and connectivity can provide transformative solutions to some of the world’s complex challenges,” said Rob Shuter, MTN’s group president and CEO.

He added that, “In 2018 we unpacked what is really needed to connect people digitally and partnered with stakeholders who share our belief, that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life.”

Tax contribution

The company also released its 2018 tax report, which shows that MTN’s contribution to tax revenues goes significantly beyond the corporate income taxes paid on its profits. In 2018, MTN’s total tax contribution was R24,1 billion, including but not limited to corporate taxes, indirect taxes, withholding taxes, payroll taxes, operating licence fees and other payments to government authorities.

Commenting on the tax report, MTN Group CFO, Ralph Mupita said, “The 2018 tax report yet again illustrates the significant contribution that the MTN Group makes to fiscal revenues in the various markets in which we operate, and call home.”

He added that, “We have a low tax risk appetite across all our markets and look to ensure that taxes due are paid. We further focus on ensuring that the highest level possible for tax compliance is adhered to across all markets.”