Mpumalanga Business 2023-24

MESSAGE
local SMMEs with their technology requirements,
whether that is access to affordable connectivity
solutions, cloud services like Microsoft Teams and
Office 365, or access to digital financial services.
MTN has been helping facilitate payments
in Mpumalanga for many years, providing small
businesses with an easy way to send and receive
money. Mobile Money continues to grow, with
millions of people in the region using it on a daily basis.
When the going gets tough, the tough get our
support
MTN has long been the supplier of choice for the
public sector in the Mpumalanga Province, and our
focus will remain on helping government agencies
improve their service delivery in 2023. We already have
existing long-term relationships with the Department
of Education and the Department of Health, along
with many municipalities, and are looking forward to
growing those partnerships in the future.
We have implemented plans to enable
better access to connectivity in rural areas,
further assisting service delivery mandates in
the Mpumalanga Province, not to mention
helping more people access the tools they need
for modern connected life. To that end, we have
ramped up investment into preventative measures
to ensure the resilience of the network.
In addition to loadshedding, the MTN network
has to contend with the threats of vandalism and
copper theft. We have therefore taken a holistic
approach to improving network availability.
This includes investment into, and deployment
of, additional backup battery and generator
capacity, as well as power contingencies such
as 24x7x365 monitoring and response to ensure
there is no downtime. MTN has also implemented
software-defined power-saving features on base
stations during higher stages of loadshedding to
ensure 100% availability.
MTN is also embarking on strategic and tactical
plans to reduce reliance on the Eskom power
grid so that future bouts of loadshedding won’t
impact service availability. These plans include
the implementation of bespoke solutions that
are less reliant on traditional network topologies,
collaboration with strategic partners to offer
additional resilience and increased network
capacity to cater for the increase in demand during
loadshedding periods. We are also accelerating fibre
distribution and optimising existing fibre routes.
As local businesses continue to deal with
the impact of loadshedding, not to mention
having to find solutions to help them stay
ahead in a challenging economic environment,
MTN is proud to be able to provide the support
and relief they need to remain competitive.
Mpumalanga will continue to be strong a focus
area for us in the year ahead, and a long time
to come. This is why our local team, led by Basil
Ntlatleng, is dedicated to enabling Mpumalanga’s
business community in the face of ever-changing
consumer and market trends.
Meet Basil Ntlatleng
Boasting extensive cross-functional business
and technology experience in a fast-moving
industry with rapidly changing business
requirements and technologies, as well as
experience in servicing private and public
sector customers locally and internationally,
Basil Ntlatleng has over 20 years’ experience
within the Information and Communications
Technology (ICT) sector in Sales and Regional
Management, Business Development and Team
Leadership across the globe.
Basil is driven to help his team meet and
exceed customer-acquisition and revenuegrowth
targets by keeping the company
competitive and innovative. He is committed
to gaining a deep understanding of customer
needs, expectations and pain points to optimise
business growth. With ever-changing consumer
and market trends, he steers diverse operational
areas and provides strategic solutions to complex
organisational challenges across Large Enterprise,
Public Sector and SMME as well as MTN’s Branded
Retail Channel, BRC. ■
Email: Basil.Ntlatleng@mtn.com
11 MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2023/24