VODACOM SWITCHES ON 5G NETWORK IN SOUTH AFRICA

VODACOM said yesterday that it had switched on Africa’s first live 5G mobile network in three cities in South Africa, with further roll-outs planned in other parts of the country. Vodacom was recently assigned temporary additional spectrum by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) for the duration of a national state of disaster to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, which has been used to fast track its 5G launch, the company said. Chief executive Shameel Joosub said in February Vodacom expected to offer 5G mobile services in South Africa this year by using a network being built by another African operator, Liquid Telecom. The deployment of 5G will help Vodacom to manage the 40 percent increase in mobile network traffic and the 250 percent increase in fixed traffic experienced during the five-week long coronavirus lockdown, it said. The three cities are Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, Vodacom said, adding the 5G network would support both mobile and fixed wireless services. “Vodacom’s 5G launch in South Africa… will help us improve our network efficiency during the Covid-19 national state of disaster,” Joosub said. “This is largely due to the allocation of temporary spectrum by the Icasa, which has already mitigated the network congestion we have experienced since the start of the lockdown period.” Icasa has said it will auction additional spectrum, including the highly sought after 5G spectrum, by the end of the year. | Reuters