MTN South Africa has acquired multi-play service provider Smart Village to accelerate its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) presence
Smart Village is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MultiChoice that owns fibre networks in gated communities. Its fibre network passes 29,000 residential homes and stands in Gauteng, the Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal.
The mobile network operator confirmed that a deal had been concluded with MultiChoice for an undisclosed fee. The acquisition will give MTN presence in more gated estates and apartment blocks, business parks and shopping malls.
Mteto Nyati, CEO of MTN South Africa, said that the acquisition of Smart Village provided MTN with the opportunity to cement its market leadership in the FTTH space and to make further inroads in the enterprise sector.
“In the enterprise space, the deal will give MTN Business the ability to provide wholesale access to 4,228 enterprises passed by Smart Village, while ensuring substantial savings for MTN and its customers as traffic will be routed via MTN’s backhaul infrastructure,” said Nyati.
This transaction is subject to approval by the South African competition authorities in terms of the country’s Competition Act. MultiChoice will continue to look after existing Smart Village customers until the deal is ratified by the authorities.
In the last few months, MTN has ramped up its rollout of its FTTH network, and has expanded its fibre network footprint to some suburbs in Gauteng, Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal.
