Business and Technology

All you need to know about Mobile networks 5G plans for 2022

In less than two years, South Africa’s two biggest mobile network operators have expanded their 5G networks from a few pockets of coverage to numerous cities and towns.

As more smartphones are shipping with support for 5G, mobile customers in South Africa will increasingly demand that their networks support the new technology. 5G offers faster speed, greater bandwidth, and lower latency than 4G/LTE and 3G. Vodacom was the first to launch a 5G mobile network in South Africa in May 2020.

After initially rolling out to a few select suburbs in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, its coverage now includes areas in all nine provinces.

The operator would not share any specific target areas for the coming year, but spokesperson Byron Kennedy said its rollout would be based on several factors.

These include relevant use cases, consumer and corporate demands and, most notably, spectrum availability. To densify our rollout of 5G services nationally, Vodacom requires access to spectrum,” Kennedy said.

“Further delays in the allocation of spectrum will impact our efforts to accelerate 5G services. Kennedy would not delve into specifics on any new noteworthy 5G-related products but said Vodacom planned to launch several “exciting innovations” in this regard in the coming year. Vodacom also shared a comprehensive list of its 5G sites, which number around 600 at the time of publication.

The list included remote areas such as the Kruger National Park and Robben Island.
It will continue to expand its 5G footprint in 2022, focusing on major metros, towns, townships, and semi-rural areas where there is a major adoption of 5G capable devices.

In concurrence with Vodacom, O’Sullivan also said the upcoming spectrum auction was a major contributing factor to consider. Having the appropriate spectrum band will enable mobile operators to deploy 5G adequately,” O’Sullivan said.

Other factors in its rollout plans will include population and smartphone adoption in a particular area.

O’Sullivan added that MTN had modernised its network over the past two years to seamlessly expand 5G in 2022. Aside from its 5G mobile network, the company also supports 5G on fixed-LTE products in its MyMTN Home and MyMTN Business range.

MTN’s 5G coverage map includes large swathes of 26 cities and towns, which are listed below.

Bloemfontein
Cape Town
East London
Ermelo
Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth)
Hartbeespoort
Jeffrey’s Bay
Johannesburg
Kimberley
Klerksdorp
Makhado (formerly Louis Trichardt)
Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown)
Mbombela
Middelburg
Mthatha
Pietermaritzburg
Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg)
Port Shepstone
Pretoria
Richard’s Bay
Rustenburg
Stellenbosch
Qonce (formerly King William’s Town)
Welkom
Witbank
White River
Cell C chief technology officer told MyBroadband it was in discussions with its infrastructure partners and “close” to the implementation of 5G services for its customers.

The operator has been decommissioning its own physical radio network and will have to rely on roaming agreements with Vodacom and MTN to offer 5G. Telkom did not respond to a request for comment on their 5G plans for 2021.

The country’s third-biggest mobile network ran a commercial proof-of-concept in 2021 to test market proposition and 5G performance on its mobile network in several areas across Tshwane, Emfuleni, Ethekwini, and Cape Town. There has been no word on when it plans to make its 5G network available to all its customers.

Source: mybroadband

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