Telecommunications giant MTN on Wednesday reported higher earnings for the year to December as its international operations bolstered its performance.

The group’s headline earnings a share increased 27.3% to 1 386c during the year under review, while earnings a share rose 27.4% to 1 434c.

MTN declared a 25.6% higher dividend of 1 035c a share as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased 13% to R58.8-billion, excluding tower profits of R968-million.

The group’s cost optimisation progress had supported an Ebitda margin of 43.1% for the year – 0.4 percentage points higher than the previous year.

MTN group president and CEO Sifiso Dabengwa said the group’s subscribers increased 9.8% to 207.8-million, while revenue was positively impacted by a weakening of the rand, increasing 12% to R136.4-billion during the 12 months to December.

However, on a constant currency basis, revenue climbed a muted 3.1% as MTN South Africa’s revenue contracted 6.1% to R39.7-billion.

South African revenue remained under pressure, with “disappointing” subscriber growth during the period under review.

While the local operation reported data revenue growth of 20.2% to R8.8-billion, contributing 22.2% to total revenue, outgoing voice revenue declined 8.3% to R19.3-billion.

MTN South Africa experienced a challenging start to the year as it lost subscribers to competitors during the first half amid an aggressive price war.

The group, which fell behind after a slow response to the ongoing price wars and mobile termination rate cuts in the industry, had regained some ground as it delivered more competitive product offerings and focused marketing campaigns.

The prepaid subscriber base declined 1.1% to 20.7-million subscribers, while the postpaid segment increased its subscriber base 11.3% to five-million.

Dabengwa pointed out that most of the subscriber loss reported earlier in the year was recovered during the second half.

“Notwithstanding the challenges faced by our South African operation, the business showed signs of improved performance in the second half,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the company’s Nigerian operations delivered a “notable” turnaround in “tough conditions” during the year to December, reporting revenue growth of 24.5% to R48-billion.

Revenue growth was dampened by interconnect revenue, which declined by 23% following a 40% reduction in mobile termination rates at the beginning of the year, a lower effective tariff and a promotions ban during the first half of the year.

MTN Nigeria grew its subscriber base by 19.7% in 2013, bringing total subscribers to 56.8-million by the end of December, despite aggressive competition and a difficult operating environment.

Nigeria’s strong growth was driven by improved segmented offerings to customers, a better quality network and was supported by seasonal promotions aimed at growing subscribers and increasing use.

The group’s total revenue growth was supported by strong revenue growth – increasing 13.7% to a collective R29-billion – in MTN’s large opco cluster, which comprised Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon and MTN’s “success story”, Sudan, besides others.

The small opco cluster, which included Yemen, Zambia, Rwanda, Liberia and Benin, also performed well, increasing revenue by 25.8% to R19.8-billion.

Meanwhile, MTN injected R30-billion in capital expenditure (capex) during the year to December, rolling out 5 161 second-generation (2G) and 4 413 third-generation (3G) sites across its 22 operations, to support increased minutes of use and faster data speeds on the networks.

South Africa’s capex, allocated to improve the quality and capacity of its 2G and 3G networks, amounted to R5.8-billion for the period. Another 516 new 2G sites and 1 133 colocated 3G sites were also rolled out, increasing the group’s 3G population coverage to 75.8%.

During the year under review, MTN spent R14.3-billion in Nigeria, adding 2 743 new 2G sites and 1 607 colocated 3G sites.

During the 2014 financial year, MTN had authorised capex of R26-billion – down from the R30-billion spent in 2013 – across its 22-country-strong footprint.

The group planned to inject R6.2-billion in South Africa and R11-billion in Nigeria.

MTN expected to add 16.7-million new subscribers during 2014 – two-million of which would be in South Africa and five-million in Nigeria.

Dabengwa said cost optimisation and efficiencies across the group would continue as MTN’s returns come under pressure amid an ever-evolving telecommunications environment and intensified competition.