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MTN sees fixed wireless as best

MTN is bullish about gaining a bigger share of the home internet market using fixed wireless connections and technologies such as 5G to compete with fibre after falling behind on delivering fixed access to homes and businesses.

Mudiwa Gavaza gavazam@businesslive.co.za

MTN is bullish about gaining a bigger share of the home internet market using fixed wireless connections and technologies such as 5G to compete with fibre after falling behind on delivering fixed access to homes and businesses in recent years.

As the internet continues to proliferate in SA and across the world, more consumers and businesses are looking for fast, reliable options for internet connectivity.

Fibre remains the quickest and most affordable and stable form of internet access in the country as measured per gigabyte of data.

But upfront costs for consumers — as much to R2,000 in many cases — and lack of access in less developed parts of the country, means fibre is out of reach for many South Africans.

For now, fixed wireless fill that gap. The technology typically uses an internet router or modem device that has a SIM card and can broadcast Wi-Fi signals within a home or business. Like its competitors — Vodacom, Telkom and Cell C — MTN is already a big presence in this market.

“Just to be very clear. There is no strategic incoherence or maybe organisational inertia in terms of our ability to execute on the home, at least in the past year,” MTN SA CEO Charles Molapisi told attendees at the group’s capital markets day on Thursday.

Remgro’s Vumatel has emerged as a dominant force in the home internet market. It has 1.4-million homes passed with

fibre, now a popular option for unlimited connectivity.

News of MTN’s proposed takeover of Telkom last year had prompted talk of the boost that Africa’s biggest mobile operator stood to receive from the ultimately futile deal. Telkom has more than 170,000km of fibreoptic cables, and, more importantly, has almost 1-million homes passed with fibre.

While it has ambitions to be a big presence in the market, MTN sees building out its own fibre network as unviable, and is working on optional technologies such as 5G to compete.

“We know that we have fallen behind in terms of the home,

but we’re working very hard to catch up. So there’s a lot of focus there, but the biggest focus right now is: let’s exploit the fixed wireless access on 5G, let’s explore the LTE network,” Molapisi said.

The company says that wireless access is outpacing wired or fibre connections into the home in countries such as the US.

“We want to take advantage of that and utilise the spectrum that we have at a 25% population coverage. So this is a clear area of growth,” said Molapisi.

MTN could use its extensive mobile network across the country to push that type of connectivity even further. The company recently started offering monthly uncapped fixed wireless products, priced between R500 and R700, using 5G.

Competitor Rain — which has just launched a voice service on its network — has championed fixed wireless access since its inception.

THERE IS NO STRATEGIC INCOHERENCE … IN TERMS OF OUR ABILITY TO EXECUTE ON THE HOME

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2023-06-02T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-02T07:00:00.0000000Z

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