MTN has launched its Supersonic AirFibre offering in South Africa. The product is said to overcome distance and a lack of infrastructure in urban, township and rural communities to bring fibre-quality connectivity to more households across the country.
“We are breaking down the traditional barriers to entry that have denied much access to a modern, connected life”, says Calvin Collett, MD of MTN SA’s ISP: Supersonic. “From Soweto to Swellendam, we believe that every household deserves the speed and benefits of fibre-like connectivity, and through AirFibre we believe we can achieve this.”
Supersonic AirFibre is expected to bring high-speed, inexpensive, and uncapped connectivity solutions to areas in which traditional fibre installations are not available. Built on unlicensed spectrum, the solution was designed, built and is maintained by MTN’s technology team to deliver a network quality that is in line with MTN’s standards, at affordable rates.
Due to the current major lack of available spectrum, MTN has located unlicensed spectrum – a readily available resource – and combined it with innovative technology now available to effectively leverage open spectrum. This is something that was previously not possible or stable.
“Our Supersonic AirFibre offering is in line with our track record of optimising frequency bands. Previously, we have undertaken this approach through the allocation of repurposed bands for 2G mobile services (using GSM technology) as well as a new generation of mobile technologies, including third-generation (using UMTS) technology and fourth-generation (using LTE) technology,” says Collett.
Among AirFibre’s advantages are that it can be speedily installed as no trenching is required as is the case with traditional fibre. By subscribing to the service, customers will have access to the new technology that equals that of a full-fibre installation.
Supersonic AirFibre will be made available in areas where customers register their demand for the offering. Launch costs of Supersonic AirFibre are:
- R399 for 5Mbps uncapped
- R499 for 10Mbps uncapped
- R599 for 20Mbps uncapped
- R799 for 50Mbps uncapped
- R999 for 100Mbps uncapped
“By farming spectrum, and now, through Supersonic AirFibre, we are rising to the challenge of providing additional value-added services for our customers. We are connecting the unconnected with the same speed and quality benefits that all our customers enjoy. The major differentiator for our customers is that there are no geographical limitations on access through a device”, concludes Collett.
