ISIS has agreed a deal with TelecomX, which provides MTN with various products and services under an exclusive master services agreement, although the deal remains subject to a definitive agreement and approval from the Canadian TSX-Venture Exchange.

ISIS said that the agreement provides for a variety of initiatives, including the ISIS gaming platform being pre-loaded onto MTN's smartphones, which MTN estimates will be sold to over 1m South African customers during 2014 alone.

“ISIS Lab is excited to be able to leverage TelecomX's relationship with MTN and the reach that MTN has to such a large customer base to whom we can bring our unique suite of cross border, multi-lingual social games that have found good traction in other parts of the world,” said ISIS Lab CEO Daniel Kajouie.

Initially, ISIS will launch its mobile proprietary bingo game to MTN customers on a free-play basis, with additional games to be added following the successful launch of the initial bingo application.

“We believe that the offering that TelecomX/ISIS brings will enable MTN SA to carve a niche in the market and make us a leader in the rapidly growing world of mobile social gaming,” said Mike Fairon, MTN’s general manager of products and solutions.

Founded in 1994 and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, MTN (formerly M-Cell) has approximately 215m subscribers across its operations in Africa and the Middle East, including South Africa, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and Yemen among others.