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MTN acquires Smart Village from MultiChoice

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 28 Sept 2015
The acquisition of Smart Village provides MTN with the opportunity to cement its position in the FTTH space, says MTN CEO Mteto Nyati.
The acquisition of Smart Village provides MTN with the opportunity to cement its position in the FTTH space, says MTN CEO Mteto Nyati.

South Africa's second mobile operator MTN has concluded a deal with MultiChoice to acquire Smart Village.

With the acquisition, the telco aims to accelerate its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) strategy. This transaction is subject to approval by the South African competition authorities in terms of the Competition Act.

Smart Village is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MultiChoice that owns fibre networks in gated communities. Its fibre network passes 29 000 residential homes in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

MTN believes the acquisition will give it presence in more gated estates and apartment blocks, business parks and shopping malls. MTN's FTTH footprint will also include the estates of Waterfall, Jackal Creek, Xanadu Eco-Estate and Midstream Estates.

The mobile operator has been making aggressive moves in the FTTH space of late. This month, it revealed it is investing around R1.2 billion to upgrade its network in KwaZulu-Natal, starting with FTTH deployment in Durban's La Lucia suburb.

"The acquisition of Smart Village provides MTN with the opportunity to cement its market leadership in the FTTH space and to make inroads in the enterprise sector," says Mteto Nyati, CEO of MTN South Africa.

"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."

He points out the transaction is in line with MTN's strategy of driving sustainable growth through identifying and astutely acting on new opportunities as part of the company's delivery of a bold, new digital world to customers.

"It lays the firm foundation that allows us to develop our participation in the enterprise-adjacent sectors, including media and entertainment," adds Nyati.

In terms of the deal, MultiChoice will continue to look after existing Smart Village customers until the deal is ratified.

Mark Rayner, COO of MultiChoice SA, says: "Smart Village is a network infrastructure business which aligns more closely to MTN's telecommunications infrastructure business. Our focus at MultiChoice is to deliver consumer-facing services across multiple platforms. This deal enables us to sharpen our focus on our core business."

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