First LTE services launched in South Africa

Details: James Barton; Category: Wireless Networks; 11 October 2012; 9157 views

South Africa’s first commercial 4G LTE services are now live...

South Africa’s first commercial 4G LTE services are now live. Launched by Vodafone subsidiary Vodacom, the service will initially be accessible to customers via approximately 70 base stations in Johannesburg with other South African cities to follow in the near future.

LTE represents a major jump in mobile connectivity capabilities. The service has the potential to operate at more than double the speed of any existing mobile connection currently commercially available in South Africa, and at significant multiples faster than the 2G and 3G connections common across the country. Higher speed and lower latency translate into a more stable user experience with stutter-free video and almost instantaneous music and picture downloads.

Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said: “Vodacom was the first network in South Africa to test 4G LTE more than two years ago, and since then we’ve been busy upgrading base stations and our fibre-optic transmission network in preparation for today.”

Customers with LTE-capable devices can activate the service now. Compatible devices will go on sale by the end of the month.

Joosub said “Switching on commercial LTE services is just one step in a much bigger network transformation. Ninety percent of our 3G base stations are 21.6 Mbps enabled, and almost 80% are 43.2 Mbps enabled. By the end of the year we aim to have 500 sites enabled for LTE.”

He added that the services would use existing spectrum, but that the firm hoped that regulator ICASA would make new spectrum blocks available.