According to Reuters, despite the company’s growth over the last twenty years, it has been facing competition from Vodacom which dominates the market.
MTN’s South Africa’s revenue fell by 7 per cent to 19.2 billion rand ($1.8 billion) in the first half of this year while its margins also went down.
“We have just received a massive retrenchment notice at MTN Group -0.05%,” said Marius Croucamp, a spokesman at the Solidarity Union, which largely represents skilled workers.
A spokeswoman from MTN is to issue a statement on the matter shortly.