South African part state-owned operator Telkom has confirmed plans to share its network with mobile operator MTN in order to cut wireless costs.
HumanIPO reported yesterday the company had plans to conclude a deal with MTN but had not released a public statement.
Telkom confirmed its plans in a SENS release.
“Shareholders are advised that Telkom has entered into negotiations with MTN South Africa (MTN) regarding agreements involving the potential outsourcing of the operation of the Telkom radio access network (RAN) to MTN and a potential expansion of the existing roaming relationship between the parties to include bilateral roaming,” Telkom said.
The deal seeks to cut back on Telkom’s wireless network costs and gives MTN access to additional spectrum.
The partnership may prove particularly important should Vodacom successfully acquire Neotel.
Numerous network operators in Africa are focusing on selling off infrastructure due to high maintenance costs, concentrating on renting use of towers on the continent.
Operators including MTN, Etisalat, Bharti Airtel and Vodacom Tanzania have moved to sell off towers in recent months.
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