MTN Group has finally completed its planned exit from Afghanistan.
The company has transferred its stake to Beirut-based M1 Group. The carrier will now operate under the name ATOMA.
MTN agreed to sell its Afghanistan unit to Lebanese investment firm M1 New Ventures (M1 Group) for a reported $35 million back in 2022.
The carrier had expected the deal to close last year.
However, during a ceremony this week, Najibullah Haqqani, the Taliban’s Minister of Telecommunications and Technology, confirmed the sale had been completed.
MTN entered the market back in 2007, and grew its market share in Afghanistan to 40 percent.
The company's exit from Afghanistan has been a long time coming, even before the Taliban took control of the country in 2021.
In 2020, MTN Group announced plans to exit Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. Following the completion of its exit from Afghanistan, the company has now departed all three Middle Eastern nations.
M1 has previously acquired Norwegian operator Telenor's Myanmar operations for $105 million, before selling 80 percent of its stake to Shwe Byain Phyu, a local conglomerate with alleged ties to the military junta.
