Fiber to the home: MTN opts for partnerships or acquisitions in South Africa
September 10th 2025
The internet market in South Africa is experiencing sustained growth, driven by demand for broadband. Home fiber optics is increasingly being adopted to meet this demand.
Telecommunications company MTN South Africa has no plans to build its own fiber optic network in the face of growing competition in this segment. The company will instead focus on a partnership with another operator or an acquisition. This was stated by Ralph Mupita (pictured), CEO of MTN Group, on Friday, September 5, during a roundtable discussion, according to South African media outlet ITWeb.
Mr. Mupita said it would be unwise for MTN to invest in building its own fiber optic network to compete with Vodacom. “It will either be a partnership or an acquisition at the right price and time ,” he said, also citing the need for market consolidation.
This statement comes as several local media outlets have reported rumors surrounding a possible acquisition of Telkom by MTN. Mr. Mupita acknowledged that this option had not been completely ruled out in the long term, while specifying that no discussions were currently underway with the semi-public operator.
MTN previously attempted to acquire Telkom in 2022, but negotiations failed due to the lack of exclusivity guarantees. In 2023, MTN denied further discussions with the operator, which has since repositioned itself. The third-largest player in the South African telecoms market, Telkom has one of the largest fiber optic networks in the country, with over 170,000 km of fiber and approximately 1.4 million homes covered, including 694,630 already connected.
Vodacom, for its part, has adopted a different strategy: in 2022, the operator proposed a 14 billion rand (799 million USD) deal to acquire a 30% stake in Maziv, the parent company of Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel. After being blocked by the Competition Tribunal in October 2024, the transaction was finally given the green light in August 2025.
These strategic moves are part of a rapidly growing market. According to ICASA, the number of fixed fiber optic internet subscriptions increased from 1.02 million in 2019 to 2.46 million in 2024. Despite this growth, the penetration rate remains relatively low, opening up new opportunities in a context of digital transformation and growing demand for bandwidth-intensive applications, remote working environments, and digital services in everyday life.
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