MTN has bought 400km of domestic long distance and metro fibres from pan-African fibre provider Liquid Telecom, describing the move as a step towards building its own high-speed transmission network.
South African mobile operator MTN (JSE:MTN) has bought 400km of domestic long distance and metro fibres from pan-African fibre provider Liquid Telecom for an undisclosed sum. The cables connect Pretoria and Polokwane in the country’s northwest.
MTN said the purchase was a step towards building its own high-speed transmission network.
In August 2015, the companies signed a partnership creating what they described as Africa’s fixed and wireless footprint.
Spokespeople for MTN and Liquid Telecom were not immediately available to comment on how the transaction has impacted the existing partnership, or the likelihood of further deals.
The purchased route, the companies said in a statement, forms part of the National Long Distance fibre network, a consortium-led initiative among telecoms operators and South Africa’s national Road Agency Limited (SANRAL) to deploy a terrestrial fibre network connecting Gauteng to Cape Town and Durban.
According to Devan Chetty, general manager of MTN South Africa, “once MTN’s National Long Distance Transmission Network is completed, it will offer significantly larger bandwidth, which will considerably increase data transfer speeds for all users, while offering lower latency and improved network resilience”.
Willem Marais, group managing executive for Liquid Telecom Group and CEO of Liquid Telecom South Africa, welcomed the deal, adding: “The transaction represents a meeting of minds and reflects the shared values of both Liquid Telecom and MTN. We hope that this deal heralds future cooperation in this space…”
Chetty added that MTN would continue to be aggressive in exploring opportunities for deploying its network via terrestrial, fibre or undersea routes.
Last year, the company joined the African Coast to Europe (ACE) submarine cable consortium, which will connect 23 countries.
“Our current priority however, is to connect [the coastal cities of] Cape Town to Durban via East London. This will further enhance our National Transmission Network and reduce our operational expenditure for capacity from third party suppliers. This will provide full end-to-end resilience for transmission connectivity to and between all of the undersea cable systems which land on both the East and West coastlines,” he concluded.
