Effective 1 September, MTN will open its fibre to the home (FTTH) access network, paving the way for independent internet service providers (ISPs) to provide value-added services to their customers via MTN’s wholesale broadband fiber connection division.
John Lewis, chief officer for managed network services at MTN, comments: “Open access networks remain one of the critical pillars of our converged strategy. We believe that open access networks will give customers the flexibility to utilise the service provider of their choice within our fibre footprint.
“This will also stimulate competition amongst service providers, lower the costs for subscribers, and reduce the barriers of entry to new service providers entering the market. We believe that this will bode well for our subscribers, while giving impetus to our vision of ushering in a bold, new digital world.”
MTN has significantly increased its FTTH footprint following its acquisition of Smart Village, and receiving regulatory approval. The Smart Village fibre footprint will also be made available on the same open access terms and conditions, once the access network upgrade and the integration into MTN’s core network has been completed.
ISPs that sign a wholesale service agreement with MTN will be able to lease a fibre broadband connection from the optical network terminal within the home, linking to a network-to-network interface (NNI), established with MTN in any Teraco data centre. The ISPs will then provide the fibre connectivity, internet and other value-added services to their customers via MTN’s wholesale broadband fibre connection.
As from 1 September 2017, MTN Business will be ready to accept wholesale fibre orders via its automated portal, and fulfill the service.
