Africa’s largest mobile operator MTN used its full-year results announcement yesterday to stress that it wants to make a “meaningful” acquisition this year to expand its business. “We are keen to do something that can help us expand and continue to diversify,” Bloomberg cites CEO Phuthuma Nhleko as commenting. “Would we like to have seen something by the end of this year? That would be great. Yes.” The report notes MTN’s interest in Angola and Ethiopia, adding that Nhleko believes any acquisitions are likely to be “medium-sized” unless MTN enters countries such as Morocco or Egypt where there are already at least three licensed operators. Intense competition in Southeast Asia makes it less attractive for deals unless there is “an opportunity that really had a cluster of countries that gave us critical mass,” Nhleko said.

Last year MTN failed to close two high-profile deals; Bloomberg notes that talks with India’s Reliance Communications ended without agreement because of “legal and regulatory issues,” and talks with Indian rival operator Bharti Airtel ended because agreement on management and ownership structures could not be reached. “Something may still come somewhere in Asia,” Nhleko said. Yesterday MTN reported it increased its mobile subscriber base in 2008 by 48 percent – 5 percent lower than 2007 subscriber growth – to 90.7 million. Revenue rose 40 percent to ZAR102.5 billion (US$10 billion) and EBITDA was up 36 percent to ZAR43.2 billion.