• MTN South Africa will not build its own fiber network but favors partnerships or acquisitions.

• CEO Ralph Mupita said consolidation is needed as competition with Vodacom intensifies.

• Telkom, with 170,000 km of fiber and 1.4m homes covered, remains a potential target.

MTN South Africa has ruled out building its own fiber network as competition heats up in the segment. Instead, the company will look to form partnerships or pursue acquisitions, CEO Ralph Mupita said on September 5 during a roundtable reported by ITWeb.

Mupita noted that it would not be wise for MTN to invest in creating a standalone fiber network to compete with Vodacom. "So on fiber-to-the-home, it's going to be partnering or it's going to be an acquisition at the right price at the right time,” he said, adding that the market requires consolidation.

His remarks come amid local media speculation about a possible acquisition of Telkom by MTN. While acknowledging that such an option is not ruled out in the long term, Mupita clarified that no discussions are currently taking place with the partly state-owned operator.

MTN previously attempted to acquire Telkom in 2022, but talks collapsed after exclusivity guarantees were not secured. In 2023, MTN denied renewed talks with the operator, which has since repositioned itself. Telkom, the third-largest telecom operator in South Africa, owns one of the country’s largest fiber networks, with more than 170,000 km of fiber and about 1.4 million homes covered, including 694,630 already connected.

Vodacom has taken a different approach. In 2022, it proposed a 14 billion rand ($799 million) deal to acquire 30% of Maziv, the parent company of Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel. Although initially blocked by the Competition Tribunal in October 2024, the transaction received final approval in August 2025.

These strategic moves reflect the rapid growth of the South African fiber market. According to ICASA, fixed fiber internet subscriptions increased from 1.02 million in 2019 to 2.46 million in 2024. Despite this growth, penetration remains relatively low, leaving room for further expansion amid digital transformation, the rise of bandwidth-heavy applications, remote work, and growing demand for digital services in everyday life.