Telecommunications giant, MTN Group has announced that it has reversed its 2020 budget downward.
Having budgeted $1.5 billion as its capital investment for the year, the telco said it is necessary to cut down the budget to $1.1 billion.
Reason for cutting down the budget
According to the group, the decision to cut down its budget was to enable the preservation of cash and focus on the maintenance of its network, as the novel COVID-19 continues to ravage economies of the world.
‘It’s a surprise’
MTN’s decision to cut down its 2020 budget came as a surprise. This is because, in the first quarter of the year, the telco recorded significant growth in its earnings.
Within the first three months of the year, MTN Nigeria recorded N74 billion earnings from Nigerians, who splashed the money on purchasing data alone. This was a significant growth compared to the N46.4 billion Nigerians spent on MTN’s data in 2019 Q1.
More so, MTN Nigeria earned N194 billion from its voice calls during the period under review. This is a climb when compared to the corresponding period of last year when the telco earned N182.4 billion.
