MTN and Liquid Telecom have announced a network sharing partnership which sees the two companies jointly offer customers access to what they claim is the largest fixed and wireless footprint across the continent.
Under the agreement, MTN and Liquid Telecom can access each other's fixed and wireless networks in countries on the African continent, where one party may not currently have presence; as a result creating what the parties say is the largest combined coverage area in Africa.
The partnership covers wholesale, carrier-to-carrier, high speed broadband, enterprise and fixed data services.
Liquid Telecom said for its part, the partnership responds to increasing demand from West Africa; with Liquid to now have a presence in 12 additional countries in Africa.
"We have a well-deserved reputation in East, Central and Southern Africa, for providing quality broadband to businesses. We are laying 100km of new fibre every week but have decided to partner for the time being in West Africa so that we can immediately meet demand from businesses there," said Nic Rudnick, CEO of the Liquid Telecom Group.
MTN said the agreement will enable the company to service its multinational enterprise customers in Burundi, the DRC, Tanzania and Zimbabwe; and said it shows MTN's commitment to enable the growth and expansion of its enterprise customers.
"This partnership will provide great benefits to our customers. We will be able to leverage each other's products and services to improve our offerings to carrier and enterprise customers in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. In addition, we have the opportunity to offer our customers services beyond our footprint, thanks to the combined footprints of both companies, as well as those of our partners. Furthermore, this partnership reinforces our extensive service offerings in country and internationally," said Elia Tsouros, MTN's Enterprise Business Unit Head of Global Sales.
Liquid Telecom's fibre network spans 20,000km across Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, while the company also operates a satellite service for rural areas.
MTN's global MPLS network has points of presence in 22 countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Djibouti, UK, Netherlands, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Cyprus, Benin, Guinea Conakry, Congo Brazzaville, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Botswana.
