MTN's acquisition of Smart Village is finalised

MTN SA's planned acquisition of Smart Village will go into effect from today, 30 November 2016, making Smart Village a wholly-owned subsidiary of MTN SA.

The finalisation of this deal will considerably expand MTN's fibre-to-the home footprint across the country. Smart Village has an expansive fibre network that passes 29 000 residential homes and stands in Gauteng, the Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal. The finalisation of this transaction will not impact any employees, who will continue to remain employed by Smart Village.

As a result of the transaction, Smart Village will give MTN presence in more gated estates and apartment blocks, business parks and shopping malls, including certain flagship estates such as Waterfall, Jackal Creek, Xanadu Eco-Estate and Midstream Estates.

Says Mteto Nyati, MTN SA Chief Executive Officer: "We are delighted that we have reached this milestone on this journey. The finalisation of this deal will give impetus to our quest to become a key converged service provider. This, coupled with the substantial investments that we have made in undersea cables, and the milestones we are making in expanding our own transmission network, will ensure that our fibre network is future-proofed and adequately prepared for current and future digital requirements."

Nyati says that the finalisation of the deal will also bolster MTN's presence in the enterprise space by giving MTN Business the ability to provide wholesale access to approximately 4 228 enterprises passed by Smart Village, while ensuring substantial savings for MTN and its customers as traffic gets routed via MTN's backhaul infrastructure.

"The transaction is in line with our strategy of driving sustainable growth through identifying and astutely acting on new opportunities as part of MTN's delivery of a bold, new digital world to our customers. It lays the firm foundation that allows us to develop our participation in the enterprise space, including in adjacent sectors in media and entertainment," concludes Nyati.