De Faria said MTN is developing an app store that will come with sought-after applications that speak to the needs and aspirations of users in the group's 21 markets across the two regions.

He said the group's vision is to have an app store platform whose vast majority of applications is, by and large, created by the developer community. He said the apps competition will serve to strengthen the apps ecosystem as well as provide a much-needed distribution channel to 150 million MTN subscribers for the region's developer.

There will be five monthly winners for the duration of the competition. The first prize for the monthly winners will be a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the second prize will be a Samsung Galaxy S2.

The coveted prize for the overall winner, who will be chosen from the six first-prize monthly winners, will be an all-expenses-paid-for trip to the Mobile World Congress 2012.

MTN may choose to feature the best submitted apps on the MTN App Store, pending the conclusion of a formal agreement with the developer.