According to local press reports, MTN South Africa has increased its fibre footprint through a number of ‘strategic last mile relationships’ with other providers. The telecoms giant has inked agreements with Metro Fibre Networx (MFN) in Gauteng and Neotel and Ethekweni Metroconnect in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) regions. According to Justin Colyn, general manager of Fixed Mobile Convergence at MTN Business, the firm will also use capacity from Telkom South Africa Wholesale to connect businesses in areas that do not have a fibre footprint. MTN’s Metro Ethernet service is based on a fibre network that uses Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology to supply point-to-point, point-to-multi-point or virtual LAN services between customer branches within the Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban metropolitan areas.
Colyn commented: ‘As a provider focused on offering customers the best when it comes to technology innovation and standards, MTN Business has been and continues to remain focused on building our own solid fibre network infrastructure. Having recognised that last mile fibre access is still proving to be a barrier for many businesses, particularly smaller ones, which make up a large portion of the South African business landscape, as part of our approach to continually offering the customer a 360 degree communications service that has no restrictions in terms of location, MTN Business have developed further strategic partnerships with various fibre providers’.