South Africa operator Telkom has confirmed that it is in talks with MTN over a possible agreement to outsource the operation of the Telkom radio access network (RAN) to MTN. Telkom added that a deal would also include a potential expansion of the existing roaming relationship between the parties to include bilateral roaming. MTN also confirmed the talks. The statements follow rumours for several months that the two companies were discussing a network-sharing agreement. This would give MTN access to Telkom Mobile's 2,300 MHz LTE network, while helping Telkom reduce losses from its mobile service. Both would also benefit from enhanced backhaul capacity.
