Internally at MTN we call it “R3” – a short, catchy name for “rapid rural roll-out” – a programme that is all about empowering by connecting. In particular, empowering and connecting the 60% of Africa’s rural, mostly poor, population who, in 2019, were without connectivity.

We believe completely that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern, connected life – and that where they live should not detract from their being able to enjoy those benefits. So, in 2018, we launched R3, in that year connecting 2 million rural (often deeply rural) people to our network. In the context of R3, “rural” refers to communities and regions characterised by low population density, limited infrastructure, and lacking access to mobile broadband connectivity.

In 2019, giving real effect to the first “R” in R3 (“rapid”), we extended our rural network to over 6.9 million people and, such was the momentum the programme was gathering that by 2022, we rolled out 1,669 new rural sites, taking coverage to 30.8 million more people. The following year, R3 was still in top gear – and we could report that “we have brought connectivity to an additional 9.2 million people . . . and deployed [since 2018] 6,984 sites in rural areas across our operations”.

An ambitious Ambition 2025 target

For good measure, we added that “We have achieved broadband coverage of 89.2% across the geographies we operate in, nearing our target of 90% against our Ambition 2025target of 95% and bringing the total number of people with rural coverage to 35.8 million.”

R3 focuses on providing voice and data services to previously uncovered areas, reaching the most vulnerable, marginalised and underserved members of society. Extending coverage in these areas supports social and economic transformation and represents shared value creation – what MTN has always been about.

According to Mazen Mroue, the MTN Group Chief Technology and Information Officer (GCTIO), there is a difference between population coverage and geographic coverage. “It’s part of our social programme,” Mazen explains, “to invest in rural areas so that we can uplift the social and economic lives of people living in those geographies. We can make a real difference in rural people’s lives by connecting them and, in so doing, helping to reduce urbanisation, which is putting mounting pressure on urban infrastructure and resources. Young people who have connectivity are much more likely to stay in their villages and help build local communities and economies than those without connectivity.

“In the short to medium term, these investments don’t normally make financial sense – but MTN is in Africa for the long haul,” Mazen adds. Such is the company’s commitment to Africa’s long-term upliftment that, as the GCTIO points out, group executives have rural connectivity included in their long-term incentives.

 

Until R3, most operators were unable to provide connectivity in deeply rural areas because of the scattered nature of settlements, a lack of energy and road infrastructure, and the fact that the solutions available were simply too costly.

 

MTN took up this challenge – but not on its own. Increasingly at the heart of R3 are the partnerships that the business has built up with suppliers using OpenRAN technology. OpenRAN allows MTN to deploy cost-effective rural sites using vendor-neutral technologies developed by Mazen’s Group Technology team. The technologies used with OpenRAN don’t tie MTN to specific vendors, meaning that suppliers can innovate to offer relevant, workable solutions, the resulting competition driving down costs.

R3 takes to the skies

MTN is constantly working with multiple partners to find solutions to close in on our Ambition 2025 target of 95% broadband population coverage across our markets. One of these solutions that is showing increasing promise is in the skies above Africa. As Mazen wrote in December 2023, the company is partnering to use low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite connectivity solutions to connect the continent’s unconnected.

“To complement our terrestrial network – particularly where we have sparse population and/or difficult terrain for radio sites as well as backhaul transport, it often makes regular cellular rollout uneconomical – we are now exploring the skies,” Mazen wrote.

“LEO satellites typically orbit the Earth at altitudes of between 160km and 2 000km, making for shorter orbital periods (of between 90 minutes and a few hours) which is good for applications that need rapid data communication or frequent re-visits of specific areas.”

Mazen went on to explain that LEO satellites offer a much lower latency than those at higher altitudes, and with the sharp fall in the cost of launching payloads into space, had made LEO a much more attractive proposition.

Disclosing that LEO initiatives were already underway, with trials being earmarked for South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Sudan, Mazen added that in 2023, MTN demonstrated, together with a LEO service provider, a standard cellphone in a Liberian village 25km from the closest mobile signal had connected directly with a satellite mobile base station in orbit.

“We have approached each partnership with a profound sense of purpose,” Mazen said. “Each collaboration, each pilot, and each successful trial and commercial deployment represents a deliberate step toward narrowing the digital divide, enriching lives, and empowering the communities we serve.

“By exploring new ways to connect the unconnected using innovative yet accessible technology, we are paving the way for an ‘always-on’ future where a modern connected life is accessible to everyone.”