Johannesburg - A copyright body claims MTN [JSE:MTN] owes songwriters just under R1m in unpaid royalties for music sold by the mobile network.

MTN sells music via the likes of its caller tone service ‘CallerTunez’. The mobile network also secures music from third party aggregators which include Content Connect Africa (CCA). MTN acquired a stake in CCA in 2014, according to the Financial Times.

But non-profit songwriter and publishing royalty collecting society Capasso (Composers Authors and Publishers Association) says attempts to license and collect alleged outstanding royalties from MTN and CCA have been met with “constant rate disputes and an unwillingness to enter into licence agreements”.