MTN Ghana is positioning itself strategically to consolidate its lead in the data market by opening up more platforms for App Developers to come up with locally relevant apps for a soon-to-be-launched MTN App Store on the MTNPlay platform. MTN, like all the other telcos, has already opened up its SMS platform for App Developers to run value added service (VAS) through short codes. But Innovations Manager at MTN, Abdul Latif Isahaku told ADOMBUSINESS MTN is gearing up to open up its USSD (unstructured supplementary service data), WAP (wireless application protocol) and Voice platforms for App Developers to come up with fresh apps on all of these platforms to enhance data consumption, greater experience for smartphone users on MTN and a continuous revenue stream for App Developers. The telecom market leader already commands 65% data market share as per the National Communication Authority’s data market statistics, but it sees more opportunity to grow its market share and data revenue through collaboration with App Developers. Isahaku told ADOMBUSINESS MTN is proud of its growing data revenues but “every day we watch our voice and SMS revenues being threatened so we are pursuing our vision to provide a new bold digital world more vigorously to capture the data market.” MTN has therefore launched an App Challenge, which is the first proactive move my a telco in Ghana to invite App Developers to put the Apps into the MTN App store and rest assured of regular revenue flow. “The winning apps would be the seed apps to start the MTN Apps Store, which would continue to invite more locally relevant apps through similar competitions every year and through other avenues. But the focus is to encourage apps that could not be easily found in other App stores like Google Play and Apple App Shop,” he said. Local App Developers have been looking forward to telcos opening up their APIs (application programming interface) to allow app developers to directly bill users of their apps, but Isahaku said users are of apps in the MTN App Store would be billed through deductions from their MTN airtime, and that can only be done by the MTN. “We however acknowledge that the apps are the intellectual property of the App Developers so we can assure them of a very fair revenue share arrangements. We are adopting a number of revenue share arrangements that would favour each category of App Developers on our platform,” Isahaku assured. Meanwhile for the participants of the App Challenge, each contestant would have the chance to pitch their App to a carefully selected panel of judges, and five final winners would be selected. Each of the five would win a token of GHC10,000, and one Samsung Galaxy S4 handset. “The overall top winner would get a fully-paid trip to attend an industry conference outside of the country in addition to his/her GHC10,000 and Galaxy S4 handset,” Isahaku said. As part of promoting the App Challenge, MTN is organizing two road shows in Kumasi and Tamale in the coming weeks, ahead of inviting submissions.