MTN has grown its 5G coverage to cover 44% of SA, up from 35% at the start of the year, and its mobile network now covers more than 98% of the country.
SA’s second-largest mobile operator said it had deployed 145 new base stations, modernised more than 400 sites and carried out capacity upgrades at more than 1,000 sites. It had concluded its 5G deployment programme scope for 2024, with more than 900 sites fitted with the technology.
“We continue to use the midband spectrum to expand 5G coverage in the country,” the operator said.
MTN and rival Vodacom began to roll out 5G with the emergency spectrum given out during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spectrum refers to the radio waves on which data is transmitted. To use an analogy, radio waves can be visualised as lanes on a highway. In the conventional spectrum allocation, specific frequencies, or lanes, are designated for specific uses such as TV or radio broadcasting and cellphone calls.
Four commercial proposals for 5G private networks were also in the works, MTN said. These were focused on the mining, manufacturing, education and logistics sectors. The aim was to conclude these plans in early 2025.
Even during unscheduled load reduction and severe weather conditions, the MTN network across SA has continued to show strong resilience in 2024. In recent years, however, vandalism and power uncertainty have hampered network investment drives for local mobile operators.
MTN said with the reduction of load-shedding in 2024 “vandalism and theft at network sites remain challenging, but heightened security and community support are beginning to make inroads”.
In the past quarter, 2,000 incidents of vandalism and theft were reported across MTN sites nationally. The most affected areas included Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the northern region, where increased criminal activity targeted critical infrastructure such as batteries, generators and copper cables.
“We are actively working with law enforcement and implementing additional security measures to combat these challenges. Our commitment is to safeguard our infrastructure and ensure that our customers continue to receive uninterrupted service,” said MTN SA’s executive for network, Rami Farah.
Another initiative, MTN said, was its sustainability drive, which included the design and development of a 5MW solar photovoltaic installation. This would be complemented by a 2MW battery energy storage system with a capacity of 6-megawatt-hours.
MTN also announced a partnership with China’s ZTE which will boost offshore coverage at Mossel Bay in the Western Cape. It said enhanced connectivity, up to 22km from the shore, “will benefit fisheries, shipping, tourism, sea rescue and marine research, improving operational efficiency and data transmission”.
Update: September 19 2024
This story has been updated with new information.
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