Cell C and Vodacom are both pumping hundreds of millions of rand into their networks in the Western Cape to enhance coverage to the province’s residents.
Cell C said on Wednesday that it intends investing R427m in its Western Cape infrastructure between June and December 2015.
“Cell C has had ongoing capacity upgrades and new infrastructure rollouts across the region, which kicked off in earnest in June this year,” said Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos in a statement.
A radio access network upgrade should be completed by November, in time for the end of year holidays, Cell C said. A similar project has already been completed in Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
The aim is to increase stability and capacity on all sites where new equipment is installed, it said.
“While we had only expected to begin LTE rollout in this region from 2016, the successful and timeous roll-out of the service in Gauteng has meant that we can push our roll-out in the Western Cape forward,” said Dos Santos.
Cell C will have rolled out about 200 4G/LTE sites in the Western Cape by the end of November.
“The new site rollout for both 3G and LTE will continue into 2016, and will be coupled with a project to decrease the effects of radio interference that has become common in the Cape. This will create massive quality improvements on our network in the area.”
Cell C said about 80% of existing and new 3G sites in the Western Cape will be upgraded to “dual carrier”, increasing throughput for users.
Meanwhile, Vodacom said last week that it is spending more than R180m in the year to March 2016 investing in its Western Cape network, to expand coverage and increase network capacity.
The bulk of the money will be spent on adding new base stations and connecting sites with Vodacom’s own high-speed transmission network.
“This year, we’re planning to add 434 radio base station sites, comprising of 91 2G sites, 193 3G and more than 150 LTE/4G sites,” the company said.
By March next year, Vodacom in the Western Cape will have 1 205 2G sites, 1 166 3G sites and 631 4G/LTE sites. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media
