The company says that it now provides 80.12% 4G coverage in South Africa, with 99.78% of the population is covered by 3G and 99.97% are covered by 2G services.
“Despite the ongoing spectrum constraints, Vodacom now provides over 80% 4G coverage in South Africa, said Andries Delport, chief technology officer at Vodacom. “Our aim is to expand our network coverage to all parts of the country, including remote rural areas. Access to new, sub 1GHz spectrum will enable the more cost effective rollout of 4G, which will help Vodacom increase broadband coverage to more South Africans.”
Vodacom has invested a reported 39.69 billion rand ($3.3 billion) in its South African network over the last five years following on from its build out plans it set out last year.
In June 2017 Vodacom unveiled its accelerated rural coverage programme which has contributed significantly to providing improved network coverage to the residents of South Africa. As a result many rural areas in the country now have access to 4G coverage including; Sterkfontein in Limpopo, Brandfort in the Free State and Sundays River Valley in the Eastern Cape and Ulundi in KwaZulu Natal. All of which now experience the same level of 4G signal as those living in the heart of Johannesburg.
With faster and more reliable internet access for devices and laptops, 4G offers a number of benefits for South African SMEs with speeds that are approximately three times faster than 3G with reduced network latency.
Earlier this month Vodacom Business Nigeria entered into an agreement with Intelsat for satellite services to expand its enterprise broadband network in West Africa. Under the new multi-year agreement Vodacom will be able to offer new and enhanced services to its customers. Using the satellite services on Intelsat 35e Vodacom will be able to deliver improved broadband connectivity to the banking, oil and gas, and enterprise sectors across West Africa.
