MTN Aims to Be Wholesale Market's Preferred Network by 2025

At a time when both the public and private sectors are focusing on network and digital ICT tools for economic recovery, MTN National Wholesale is positioned as the leading "backbone" partner in the industry. As part of its Ambition 2025 strategy, with a specific focus on Network as a Service, MTN aims to become the primary digital network and service provider for the wholesale market in South Africa by 2025. MTN National Wholesale is expanding its range of innovative solutions to provide speedy and cost-effective enablement solutions to achieve this goal.

To this end, Cell C announced that it had brought forward the completion of the transition of its network operations to its new operating model. This network transition involves the deactivation of Cell C’s own physical radio infrastructure and moving to a virtualized radio access network hosted by MTN, eliminating the need for costly investment and the operational management of physical towers and network sites by Cell C.

The rapidly maturing mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) market in South Africa offers significant value and entry points. Despite not owning wireless network infrastructure, MVNOs can quickly gain market share by leveraging access to network services at wholesale rates. The MVNO Market Report by BMIT predicts that the collective market share of MVNOs will double in the next two to three years, representing 10-12% of mobile subscribers within five years. MTN is at the forefront of this trend, embracing the opportunity to extend digital access to more people and actively participating in this surge.

For MTN, the key is to help change lives by bringing mobile services to a diverse group of customers, especially previously underserviced communities and individuals. To achieve its goals over the next two years, MTN is driving connectivity through an array of connectivity value propositions that enable work and play.