Vodacom has announced its plans to roll-out the widest 5G network in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Its 5G network is currently available on 156 live 5G sites across the KwaZulu-Natal province and supports both mobile and fixed wireless access services.
To launch the 5G network in KZN, Vodacom used the temporary spectrum assigned by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), including 1×50 MHz in the 3.5 GHz, 2x10MHz and 700MHz. Vodacom has decided to use the 700 MHz band for wide-scale mobile, 5G coverage and is supplementing network capacity with 3.5 GHz where required.
“Vodacom now offers the widest 5G network coverage in KwaZulu-Natal and we expect to expand our national 5G footprint significantly once we get access to new spectrum. We are confident that the rollout of 5G will help us to bridge South Africa’s digital divide in the long-term by promoting digital inclusion,” says Vodacom South Africa CEO, Balesh Sharma.
“As a more efficient technology than its predecessors, 5G is designed to more efficiently meet the rapidly increasing connectivity requirements of modern society. The widespread rollout of 5G will support Government’s 4IR objectives in future, and will facilitate the creation of an entirely new technologically enabled world.”
As part of the first phase, the region has deployed 5G in eThekwini, Pietermaritzburg, Howick, Richards Bay, Ntuzuma, Umlazi and KwaMashu. The Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal region saw a surge in data traffic from the end of March, with accelerated growth of 40% due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
