South African mobile telecommunications company MTN intends to invest P86million to expand the range of internet services it provides in Botswana through its subsidiary MTN Business Botswana, once Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) awards the relevant licence, including the fibre and licensed frequency wireless licence.

Scheduled for roll out over three years, the project entails extending the company's services to the residential and consumer market.

Since 2009, MTN Business Botswana has been providing ICT services to various companies, from small and medium business to large and multinationals which include among others Botswana's central bank, First National Bank Botswana (FNBB), Stanbic Bank and Botswana International Trade and Investment Centre (BITC).

Mthulisi Malinga, MTN Business Botswana's Finance and Administration Manager said the company is expanding from its current corporate client to develop a broadband service suitable for residential and SoHo market, expected to available in the second half of 2016.

"The MTN strategy is to focus on making internet and internet services available to the general populace and apply further focus on enterprise connectivity," Malinga said.

He added that data traffic will become central to MTN's strategy to further create and maintain stakeholder interest, as well as to drive sustainable growth.

The expansion project is expected to spur the company's revenue generation from the current P24 million annually to almost P90 million by 2018.

Recently MTN Business Botswana applied for a fibre and licensed frequency wireless licence,

which will allow them to offer internet services independently outside of the BoFiNet structure.

MTN Business aims to leverage this licence to improve its service and offer an enhanced connectivity layer for the benefit of the economy.