MTN SA has launched a trial of a next-generation long-term evolution (LTE) mobile broadband network, offering download speeds of up to 70Mbit/s in Gauteng.

The pilot LTE network, which has been deployed at about 100 sites so far, is available in parts of Johannesburg and Pretoria, though MTN SA chief technology officer Lambo Kanagaratnam says the company will expand the network to other provinces “soon”. The trial network, which has been built by Ericsson and Huawei, is not open to the general public for now.

“When the marketing guys say let’s go for it, we’ll be ready,” Kanagaratnam says of the commercial launch plans. “We can deploy very aggressively [and there’s been] a bit of push back and forth to decide when we launch.”

He says MTN has achieved downlink speeds of up to 70Mbit/s on the trial network and uplink speeds of almost 30Mbit/s. A demonstration at the company’s offices on Thursday showed download speeds in the region of 40Mbit/s.

“Throughput on LTE is two to three times the maximum throughput on [third-generation] HSPA networks,” he says. Latency, a measure of network lag, is also greatly improved — a three to four times improvement over previous generation technology — making LTE better suited to applications like gaming, he adds.

MTN has deployed four LTE “clusters” across Gauteng. Areas covered include parts of Randburg, Sandton, Midrand, the East Rand and Pretoria. All base stations are connected to high-capacity fibre backhaul with average coverage per site of up to about 600m from the tower.

Kanagaratnam says the test LTE network will offer data-only services at this stage as voice over LTE is still in development.

The company isn’t disclosing how much it’s spent on the trial network, but it forms part of its plans to spend between R4bn and R6bn a year on infrastructure.

MTN has deployed the network at 1,8GHz after “refarming” 10MHz of spectrum in the band that it has traditionally used for second-generation voice services. To build a nationwide network offering good speeds, Kanagaratnam says the company will need access to the 800MHz and 2,6GHz frequency bands.

Spectrum at 2,6GHz is expected to be auctioned off by the Independent Communications Authority of SA later this year, with the 800MHz band likely to become available in a few years once the country’s television broadcasters have migrated from analogue to digital terrestrial television. — Duncan McLeod, TechCentral