COMMENTARY: Will the new ‘MTN One TV’ stand the test of time?

MTN Group’s launch of ‘MTN One TV’ is another attempt by a major African telecom operator to move beyond basic connectivity and establish a foothold in digital entertainment. It is an ambitious move, positioning the brand as a one-stop platform that brings together local storytelling, live television, ad-supported content, and pay-per-view options.

By leveraging its extensive mobile money and digital infrastructure, along with its large customer base across Africa, MTN aims to create new opportunities for content creators and advertisers. Even so, history shows that telecom operators need to be cautious when entering a business that differs significantly from their core strengths.

MTN is entering this space with significant scale, serving about 291 million subscribers across Africa. But scale alone does not guarantee success in streaming. Airtel TV may be the most relevant comparison. Like MTN One TV, Airtel, with around 650 million subscribers across 15 countries, including India, set out to build a digital entertainment platform. The challenge, however, was not technology but content. Streaming is fundamentally a content business, not a connectivity business. To stay competitive, platforms must continue to invest in costly content acquisition, licensing deals, exclusive rights, production partnerships, and customer retention. This requires an operating model very different from that of a traditional telecom network.

Safaricom’s experience with ‘Baze offers another warning. On paper, the idea made sense. Combine local content, mobile-first viewing, and simple payment options. Yet despite Safaricom’s strong position in East Africa (with more than 57 million customers in Kenya and Ethiopia), Baze struggled to achieve the scale, engagement, and revenue needed to become a major player. Over time, it quietly faded into the background, becoming another example of how difficult it is for telecom operators to reinvent themselves as content companies.

MTN One TV is also entering a market dominated by global streaming giants, which enjoy significant structural advantages. Netflix ended 2025 with more than 325 million paying subscribers worldwide and is expected to spend around $20 billion on content acquisition and production in 2026 alone. This level of investment enables Netflix to secure premium entertainment rights.

No African telecom operator can realistically match that level of long-term investment. Viewers are not just paying for access to a platform; they are paying for exclusive content they cannot get elsewhere. That places content ownership and production at the heart of the streaming business model.

Showmax illustrates these challenges clearly. Even as it was projected to surpass 2 million subscribers, it underwent a major strategic restructuring and was more closely integrated into the broader DStv ecosystem. This was driven by economics. Customer acquisition, content licensing, and subscriber retention are all costly. By tying Showmax more tightly to DStv’s billing relationships, content libraries, and distribution networks, MultiChoice can achieve efficiencies that a standalone streaming service would struggle to match. If a company focused purely on entertainment must constantly refine its streaming strategy to stay competitive, telecom operators need to be realistic about the industry’s complexity.

Streaming economics remain challenging. Customers expect affordable pricing, top-quality content, minimal advertising and a steady stream of new programming. At the same time, content owners have their own commercial demands. MTN’s proposed mix shows that it understands these pressures.

This raises a broader question. Should telecom operators be in the content business at all? Instead of trying to become entertainment companies, telecoms might create more value by enabling entertainment through strong partnerships. MTN already connects millions of Africans. Deepening partnerships with Netflix, Showmax, YouTube, local broadcasters, and independent creators may prove more sustainable over time than owning and operating a standalone streaming platform.

However, none of this means MTN One TV is destined to fail. In fact, it could succeed as an aggregation and distribution hub, making it easier for customers to access and pay for entertainment across Africa. The real question is whether MTN can truly become a content company at a time when the space is dominated by Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, Amazon Prime Video, Showmax, and countless independent digital creators. If recent telecom experience in Africa is any guide, connectivity will likely remain a telecom operator’s greatest strength, while content may be better left to companies whose core business is entertainment.