Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Vodacom’s Maziv deal gets makeover ahead of crucial hearing

      18 July 2025

      Cut electricity prices for data centres: Andile Ngcaba

      18 July 2025

      Takealot taps Mr D to deliver toys, pet food and future growth

      18 July 2025

      ‘Oh, Ani!’: Elon’s edgy bot stirs ethical storm

      18 July 2025

      Trump U-turn on Nvidia spurs talk of grand bargain with China

      18 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025
    • In-depth

      The 1940s visionary who imagined the Information Age

      14 July 2025

      MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

      10 July 2025

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | Samsung unveils significant new safety feature for Galaxy A-series phones

      16 July 2025

      TCS+ | MVNX on the opportunities in South Africa’s booming MVNO market

      11 July 2025

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025
    • Opinion

      A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

      15 July 2025

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » MTN itching to build national LTE network

    MTN itching to build national LTE network

    By Editor17 August 2011
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp
    MTN SA MD Karel Pienaar

    MTN wants to share spectrum in the so-called “digital dividend” band with television broadcasters so it can begin rolling out a wireless broadband network across the country using next-generation long-term evolution (LTE) technology.

    “I would deploy LTE across the country right now if I had more spectrum,” says MTN SA MD Karel Pienaar.

    LTE is sometimes marketed as a fourth-generation mobile broadband technology, particularly by US operators, though the use of the term 4G has proved contentious. It’s the successor to the third-generation high-speed packet access networks currently in use.

    Telecommunications operators are waiting for broadcasters to migrate from analogue to digital terrestrial television, a move that will free up spectrum in the 800MHz band. Mobile broadband providers want to use the spectrum outside the cities to build high-speed data networks.

    But Pienaar says the industry can’t afford to wait for the migration process to run its course and says a way needs to be found for mobile operators to share the broadcasting spectrum in the interim.

    MTN is already running a pilot LTE network in parts of Johannesburg and Pretoria, but to do so it has reallocated a portion of its 1,8GHz frequency allocation — used mainly for legacy voice services — for the purpose. The company would prefer to build its network at 800MHz and 2,6GHz, says Pienaar, but neither of these bands has been allocated yet by the industry regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa).

    Icasa is meant to auction off access to 2,6GHz later this year — or possibly early next year — but operators may have to wait longer to get access to the arguably more coveted 800MHz frequency band.

    The 800MHz band is better suited to delivering broadband outside the dense urban areas because one base station can serve a much larger area than one using 1,8GHz or 2,6GHz.

    Pienaar says LTE modems are already available and he’s keen to start expanding MTN’s deployment of the technology across the country. He says originally MTN didn’t expect to build LTE networks so soon and so aggressively. But, he says, the “timing has moved up”.

    He expects there will be strong demand from small and medium-sized companies and high-end consumers for the higher capacities offered by LTE. Over time, LTE promises to deliver real-world download speeds of well over 100Mbit/s, far outstripping the speeds possible on copper-based fixed-line networks.

    “The time is up for this spectrum to be lying fallow with consumers not benefiting from it,” Pienaar says. “We need to unlock it. I can’t put it more strongly than that.”

    He says he is encouraged that there finally appears to be movement on a spectrum auction and says there has been talk that Icasa could tie the sale of access to 2,6GHz to the 800MHz band.

    “We won’t be able to access 800MHz from day one, but we can work with the broadcasters to transition across,” he says. “To move all 10m television households to digital TV is going to take five years, so there’s going to have to be active ‘refarming’ of the 800MHz spectrum at the same time.”

    Pienaar believes MTN and other operators could get early access to the digital dividend spectrum if they work closely with the country’s broadcasters to achieve this. Already, Neotel uses a portion of the 800MHz band for its code division multiple access voice network using something known as “geographic interleaved spectrum”.  — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook


    Icasa Karel Pienaar MTN Neotel
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleiPad rival, the Motorola Xoom, goes on sale in SA
    Next Article The dilemma facing online publishers

    Related Posts

    Mobile money lifts Africa savings to decade high

    17 July 2025

    MTN Group appoints new chief enterprise officer

    16 July 2025

    South Africa’s telcos battle to monetise 5G as 4G suffices for most

    15 July 2025
    Company News

    Vertiv to acquire custom rack solutions manufacturer

    18 July 2025

    SA businesses embrace gen AI – but strategy and skills are lagging

    17 July 2025

    Ransomware in South Africa: the human factor behind the growing crisis

    16 July 2025
    Opinion

    A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

    15 July 2025

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.