In South Sudan
MTN lays off staff as economic crisis bites
Corporate services head Khumbulani Dhlomo said the company had reduced foreign staff numbers by 75 percent and would cut 55 percent of local staff, without giving exact figures.
MTN South Sudan, one
of the country's biggest telecoms operators, is cutting dozens of jobs
and cancelling expansion projects such as the construction of new
cellular sites due to an economic crisis, it said on Tuesday.
The world's newest nation plunged into civil war in
late 2013 when a political crisis provoked fighting between forces loyal
to President Salva Kiir and rebels allied with his former deputy, Riek Machar.
The firm, a unit of South Africa's MTN, is the latest
among foreign firms to reduce operations after a currency devaluation,
spiralling inflation and lower revenue from oil on a drop in production
and weak global crude prices.
Corporate services head Khumbulani Dhlomo said the
company had reduced foreign staff numbers by 75 percent and would cut 55
percent of local staff, without giving exact figures.
Dhlomo said subscriber numbers had dropped by 10
percent since October last year, and the company was expecting more
losses this year.
MTN South Sudan had scrapped plans to put up 40 new
cellular transmission towers and 100 third generation (3G) transmission
sites, he said.
"If the economy continues it's downward trend, MTN may be forced to close," Dhlomo said.
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