MTN has opened up its Fibre to the Home network (FTTH) for independent internet service providers (ISPs) in South Africa.

The company believes its wholesale broadband fibre connection division will enable local ISPs to provide value-added services to their customers.

"ISPs will now be able to lease the fibre connection in an MTN FTTH territory and offer any value added services to their customers," says John Lewis, Chief Officer for managed network services at MTN.

"We believe that open access networks will give customers the flexibility to utilise the service provider of their choice within our fibre footprint. This will also stimulate competition amongst service providers, lower the costs for subscribers, and reduce the barriers to entry to new service providers entering the market," adds Lewis.

MTN SA says it has significantly increased its FTTH footprint following its acquisition of Smart Village in 2016.

techfinancials.co.za reported that the mobile network operator acquired Smart Village for a cash consideration of R220 million and a deferred consideration of R12 million.

At the time the then CEO of MTN SA Mteto Nyati said Smart Village would bolster the company'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.

Smart Village was said to have an expansive fibre network that passed 29 000 residential homes and stands in Gauteng, the Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal.

The company says ISPs that sign a wholesale service agreement will be able to lease a fibre broadband connection from the optical network terminal within the home, linking to a network-to-network interface (NNI), established with MTN in any Teraco data centre.

The ISPs will then provide fibre connectivity, internet and other value-added services to their customers via MTN's wholesale broadband fibre connection.

As of 1 September, MTN Business will be ready to accept wholesale fibre orders via an automated portal.