What South Africans can Expect from Vodacom Western Cape’s $29M Internet Boost Investment
More telecoms in Africa are committing to providing quicker speed, improved limit, and decreased dormancy that goes with the fifth era of cell innovation, 5G. To expand coverage, boost capacity, and enhance network uptime, Vodacom Western Cape says it would invest over $29M in the province’s mobile network this year.
According to the statement, the investment in the network will enable more communities to benefit from extremely dependable internet connectivity. Vodacom intends to expand connectivity in urban, deep rural, and township regions that previously had no or inadequate connectivity.
Recall that Vodacom Group had introduced Africa’s first 5G mobile network in three cities in South Africa in May 2020. At the time, the company envisioned to expand its 5G rollout as more 5G enabled smartphones, Wi-Fi, and fixed wireless access routers come into the system.
According to Carol Hall, managing executive for Vodacom Western Cape, people living in rural areas will benefit from the development the most, as they’ve been digitally excluded.
“R500 million will be used in the current financial year for investment in the Vodacom mobile network. As almost 90% of all our data traffic is carried on 4G technology, this amount will also go towards expanding 4G capacity across 530 sites in the region.
“Those most at risk of being digitally and financially excluded without the benefit of connectivity are largely in rural areas, which is why we’ve focused our energy on expanding coverage to these communities,” said Hall.
98% of people in the Western Cape currently have access to 3G coverage, and 96% also have access to 4G coverage thanks to ongoing investments. This kind of activity, according to Hall, “helps to bridge the digital divide by ensuring that all citizens have equitable access to critical internet resources including job, healthcare, and educational platforms.”
What Vodacom’s 5G Enhancement Will Offer South Africans
It takes a lot of work to ensure outstanding, consistent network quality for voice and data services, and all operators must implement plans to keep consumers connected during load-shedding. By enabling more widespread usage of innovations like the Internet of Things and software-defined wide-area networking, 5G connection will provide even larger advantages.
The latest investment entails the construction of 38 new 3G and 4G base station sites, including six in rural areas and 16 in townships, as well as the implementation of LTE capacity improvements at more than 75% of the base station locations in the province. Additionally, 50 new 5G base station sites have been erected by Vodacom in the area.
In order to speed up restoration in the event of power outages, Vodacom Western Cape has renovated 240 base station locations with new batteries and anti-theft technology in addition to moving mobile generators to remote areas.
The telco has said that it will keep expanding its reach throughout the province and providing its consumers cutting-edge technology like Software Defined Area Network (SA-WAN) to homes and businesses.
Vodacom claimed that 5G has the ability to help enterprises, in particular, harness data-driven productivity that would support the economy.