Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal will spend over R1 billion into the mobile network this year, to improve regional coverage reach, capacity and network resilience, and accelerate access to connectivity throughout the province, particularly in deep rural areas and townships.
Bridging the digital divide by expanding rural coverage
From this capital expenditure, R444 million will go towards radio access network related projects, R135 million has been allocated for regional network capacity and upgrades, with R85 million to be spent on improving network resilience, optimisation and operations, and R17.5 million on core network infrastructure upgrades and projects. In addition, Vodacom plans to expand LTE capacity to 704 base station sites in KwaZulu-Natal in the current financial year.
The KwaZulu-Natal region now has over 200 sites on 5G, with the rollout ongoing in the current financial year to add another 61 sites. 5G connectivity will deliver even greater benefits, supporting more widespread use of technologies like the Internet of Things and Software-Defined Wide-Area Networking. For businesses, in particular, 5G has the potential to unlock data-driven productivity that will fuel our economy.
Overcoming network disruptions
Due to the R70 million investment into back-up energy projects, Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal has been able to increase site power standby time from four to eight hours, which has a significant impact on network availability during longer outages of stage 4-6 load shedding, as well as after the recent flood damage in the region. Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal has also deployed over 180 generators across sites to assist with back-up power in the event of any disruption, with the procurement of 75 more in progress to increase network capacity.Enhancing customer network experience
As a result of a R150 million spend on core network voice and data engineering services and roll-out, and other network optimisation upgrades, Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal boasts a call drop rate of 0.2% and a call setup success rate of 99.5%. The region has also seen an additional 300 000 active data users joining the customer base in the last financial year.
Imran Khan, Managing Executive for Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal
This significant investment into the region’s mobile network drives our goal of building an inclusive, digital society. By increasing access to reliable, quality connectivity, such as the deployment of more sites and network upgrades, as well as continuing to deliver an exceptional network experience to our customers, we can help to ensure the benefits of digitalisation are within the reach of all communities we serve.
