By March 2025, Vodacom would have spent R1bn over two years on expanding its network in the Eastern Cape.
That’s after SA’s largest cellphone provider said it had earmarked another R500m on its network and power backup in the province for the current financial year.
Part of the mission is for this investment to expand connectivity in deep rural areas. Rural internet connectivity in areas outside big centres such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban remains a sore point in SA.
This week, Vodacom said it would be investing the funds in modernising the network, energy projects and accelerating broadband coverage across the region, particularly in townships and deep rural areas of the province.
In the financial year ended March, the company had invested more than R500m on extending broadband coverage throughout the Eastern Cape.
This means more than R1bn will have been spent over two years in the province, as part of Vodacom's long-term vision, “to have the widest and most reliable network accessible to all South Africans, irrespective of where they live.”
In the 2024 financial year, the Vodafone subsidiary spent R20.4bn in capital expenditure. Of that, R11.1bn was spent in SA. Part of this cost is now being taken up by backup power systems to cope with the effects of load-shedding. Since 2020, the operator has spent more than R4bn addressing what it terms “energy resilience”.
For the current financial year, the group has committed to investing between 13% and 14.5% of revenue on capital expenditure.
Many individuals in SA’s remote, deep rural areas lack internet access, which prevents them from taking advantage of the socioeconomic advantages of connectivity.
The mobile provider said the bulk of spend will go towards modernising the network infrastructure, followed by deploying new network sites, rolling out 5G network, and launching new LTE coverage, making of recently allocated spectrum from regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA.
Icasa made rural connectivity a part of the licensing terms for spectrum at its most recent auction of radio frequency spectrum.
The plans is to focus investment on the three bays of the Eastern Cape footprint: Lower Bay (Gqeberha to Makhanda and the Port Alfred area); Central Bay (sites along the N10 and surroundings); and Upper Bay (Qonce, Monti and up to the Kei Mouth area).
“Our approach is to first build on our infrastructure to ensure that we can unlock the many opportunities afforded by the latest technology, such as 5G, and deliver a quality network experience for all our customers,” said Zakhele Jiyane, managing executive for Vodacom’s Eastern Cape region.
“In some areas of the province, this investment will bring connectivity to communities for the first time, driving our ambition of empowering people in an inclusive digital society,” he said.
“One of the big focus areas for the region this financial year is to deploy more sites in deep rural areas of the Eastern Cape. Many individuals in SA’s remote, deep rural areas lack internet access, which prevents them from taking advantage of the socioeconomic advantages of connectivity.”
He said the Covid-19 pandemic had brought the effects of the digital divide to light in dramatic ways, as people without broadband have been unable to work from home, attend classes or receive healthcare services.
Outside the Eastern Cape, the group has been making similar investments in other provinces, putting down R400m in the Free State and Northern Cape in this financial year
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