TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Pick n Pay partners with Takealot in online shopping push

      17 May 2022

      Everything PC S01E02 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 2’

      17 May 2022

      Elon Musk is becoming like Henry Ford – and that’s not a good thing

      17 May 2022

      WhatsApp Premium: new subscription plan in development

      17 May 2022

      Fibre break knocks out Telkom’s network

      17 May 2022
    • World

      Musk tells Twitter: prove your bot claims, or the deal is off

      17 May 2022

      Intel shareholders reject pay packages for top executives

      17 May 2022

      Musk hints at reduced offer price for Twitter

      17 May 2022

      SpaceX gets $125-billion valuation in private placement

      17 May 2022

      Crypto’s wild week offers a much-needed warning

      16 May 2022
    • In-depth

      Stablecoins wend wobbly way into the unknown

      17 May 2022

      The standard model of particle physics may be broken

      11 May 2022

      Meet Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s personal ‘fixer’

      6 May 2022

      Twitter takeover was brash and fast, with Musk calling the shots

      26 April 2022

      Musk wants free speech on Twitter but spent years silencing critics

      21 April 2022
    • Podcasts

      Everything PC S01E01 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 1’

      10 May 2022

      Llew Claasen on how exchange controls are harming SA tech start-ups

      2 May 2022

      The inside scoop on OVEX’s big expansion plans

      20 April 2022

      Decentralised finance, the ‘end of banks’ – and what comes next

      25 March 2022

      Maxtec and BigFix: helping stop cyberattackers in their tracks

      18 March 2022
    • Opinion

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022

      Cash is still king … but not for much longer

      31 March 2022

      Icasa on the role of TV white spaces and dynamic spectrum access

      31 March 2022

      Minister Ntshavheni is at risk of tripping up

      24 March 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Vodacom spending big money to beat MTN

    Vodacom spending big money to beat MTN

    News By Duncan McLeod2 August 2018
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Andries Delport

    Vodacom is pouring money into its network in South Africa in an effort to ensure it stays ahead of crosstown rival MTN when it comes to coverage and performance.

    The operator’s group chief technology officer, Andries Delport, said on Thursday that it invested R2-billion in its network in South Africa in the second quarter of the calendar year, and R4.6-billion in the first six months of 2018.

    Between 60% and 70% of this capex investment is in the network — on site builds, transmission infrastructure such as fibre and microwave backhaul, and core infrastructure — while a growing proportion is being directed to IT investments, including automation in its call centres.

    Vodacom’s population coverage with 4G/LTE technology will reach more than 85% by year-end. Urban 4G population coverage now stands at 91.5%, while rural is at 48.5%, Delport said.

    We have run out of spectrum. We cannot provide coverage in rural areas on 4G

    The company’s investment comes as rival MTN South Africa, which has pumped more than R30-billion into its network in the past three years, has made big strides in catching up in terms of network quality and performance. The two operators have long jousted over which has the better network, but the rivalry has become noticeably more intense this year.

    Research by Ookla, which runs the popular Speedtest.net bandwidth testing app and website that allow users to check the speed of their Internet connections, shows that Vodacom and MTN are in a neck and neck race this year to be the country’s best network.

    In the first quarter, Vodacom lost the right to claim network superiority, at least in terms of Ookla’s research. That changed in the second quarter, with Vodacom ahead in 4G, but still neck and neck with MTN in terms of 3G performance. “The engineers will work on that,” Delport said.

    He again urged policy makers and the regulator to release radio frequency spectrum so that the industry can continue to expand 4G coverage, especially in rural areas, where he said more sub-1GHz bands are needed to ensure that coverage can be rolled out affordably.

    Refarming no more

    Using existing spectrum assets, he said Vodacom is unable to build 4G networks in rural areas efficiently. The frequencies below 1GHz have better propagation characteristics, meaning fewer sites need to be built, reducing costs and making it more economical to deploy 4G infrastructure outside the country’s urban areas.

    Vodacom and MTN have both reallocated, or “refarmed”, some of their spectrum in the 900MHz band — which they have historically used for 2G voice services — for 3G voice and data. However, Vodacom does not have sufficient bandwidth at 900MHz to use it for 4G, too, Delport said. It therefore needs access to additional sub-1GHz spectrum. The problem is these frequencies are still being used by television broadcasters because of the long delay in migrating the country from analogue to digital terrestrial television.

    “We have run out of spectrum. We cannot provide coverage in rural areas on 4G,” he said. Unfortunately, it will be some time yet before bands below 900MHz are available. “It is not as easy as just giving up 800MHz spectrum. There are TV broadcasters in that band. They must vacate the band, and you have to clean it up.”  — (c) 2018 NewsCentral Media

    Andries Delport MTN MTN South Africa top Vodacom
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleLiquid Telecom looks to unlock its spectrum assets in SA
    Next Article Apple is now a $1-trillion company

    Related Posts

    Pick n Pay partners with Takealot in online shopping push

    17 May 2022

    Everything PC S01E02 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 2’

    17 May 2022

    Elon Musk is becoming like Henry Ford – and that’s not a good thing

    17 May 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Detect and prioritise cloud security risks in minutes, not months

    17 May 2022

    Eye on the future: an interview with PureSoftware CTO Tushar Bhatkar

    17 May 2022

    Accelerating test automation

    16 May 2022
    Opinion

    From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

    19 April 2022

    How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

    8 April 2022

    Cash is still king … but not for much longer

    31 March 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

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

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

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