MTN South Africa said on Thursday that it is working to expand its 5G coverage, despite uncertainty about the allocation of new spectrum, and has deployed 5G towers in Polokwane in Limpopo and Emalahleni (Witbank) in Mpumalanga.

“We have already activated 5G in greater Polokwane and Witbank, and intend to expand the 5G coverage footprint further across the region, into areas such as Nelspruit and Middelburg,” said Kagiso Moncho, the company’s GM for the northern region, in a statement.

Already, 93% of MTN towers in the northern provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West have 4G/LTE, Moncho said. MTN plans to spend R350-million this year in these three provinces.

The operator intends to expand 5G coverage further across the region, to towns such as Nelspruit and Middelburg.

MTN has earmarked part of the northern region spending plans for battery replacement and security programmes to try to counter theft from high sites.

“Vandalism of the network infrastructure remains a pain point…,” Moncho said. “These vandalism incidents affect the economy negatively and the interruptions due to network outages hinder emergency and security services. Unfortunately, Limpopo is one of the hotspots.” — © 2021 NewsCentral Media