MTN's big bandwidth plans
MTN recently announced its partnership with Neotel in which the two companies plan to build a R2 billion national long-distance fibre optic network together. This project should provide near unlimited bandwidth capabilities and in time mean higher speeds and lower prices for broadband services.
The initial fibre segment of this national network will connect Johannesburg and Durban while onward connectivity to Mtunzini will allow for interconnection with the in-progress African East Coast submarine cables EASSy and Seacom.
Seacom will be the first cable to land in June 2009 while EASSy is expected to land in the first half of 2010. While Seacom has made headlines for its timely delivery, high capacity and affordable pricing, MTN is optimistic that EASSy will provide them with even more benefits as the cellular provider is a shareholder in the project.
This national network will reduced the dependency of MTN on Telkom for its transmission quality and links and also save the company hundreds of millions in Telkom bills. MTN SA MD Tim Lowry said that he expected this national network to save MTN an estimated R200 million in 2009 and as much as R300 million in 2012. MTN is currently paying Telkom in the region of R1 billion per year for its transmission needs.
According to MTN this national network will improve network availability, increase its capacity to carry national traffic and provide a direct connection with MTN’s international sea cable assets. This, MTN said, will enable it to provide high speed connectivity to corporate clients and provide adequate bandwidth for speed intensive applications like Internet connections.
Apart from investing in a national fibre network MTN is also progressing well with its Gauteng fibre project – an inner city network in the Gauteng region. Around 100km of the planned 200km network has already been completed and this network is expected to provide MTN with far more affordable and readily available bandwidth to serve its corporate clients and mobile customers.
These projects are good news for consumers who will benefit from higher bandwidth capacity and lower prices in South Africa. Lowry made it clear that the benefits of its fibre network would be passed on to consumers, something which MTN customers will be encouraged to hear.
The first segment of the MTN/Neotel national fibre network is expected to be finished in August, coinciding with the landing of Seacom.
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