MTN Launches 5G Across Major Cities in South Africa using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing

MTN South Africa this week announced the launch of its next generation 5G network, covering areas of Johannesburg and Cape Town, as well as Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth.

The launch comes on the back of government’s allocation of temporary spectrum but is also the culmination of extensive 5G trials and testing.

One of the key innovations driving the broad rollout by MTN has been a strategic approach to Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), as these deployments overcome the challenges of lack of dedicated 5G spectrum.

MTN will deliver 5G connectivity on four different spectral bands:

• 3.5 GHz at 58 sites: This is the ideal spectrum band for 5G, known as the “Golden Band” which offers a truly world-class 5G experience with both faster speeds and low latencies. MTN has deployed sites in the 3.5 GHz band in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.

• 2100MHz and 1800MHz at 35 sites: MTN SA is introducing the re-farming of some 4G spectrum to allow us to run 4G and 5G spectrum, at the same time, in the same band. This allows for easier migration of network technology from LTE to 5G. It also allows us to deploy 5G using existing spectrum assets in the absence of additional high demand spectrum. MTN has deployed 5G sites on 2100MHz in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.

• 700MHz at 5 sites: This is an excellent band for extensive coverage, making it ideal for use for urban indoor settings and for small towns and rural coverage due to the low band frequency propagation. Small towns now covered by MTN 5G using the 700MHz include Port Alfred, Hopetown, Virginia Queenstown and Tsantsabane.

• 28GHz at 3 sites: This high frequency bandwidth, offers great speeds, making this ideal for Fixed Wireless Access 5G connectivity. This solution has been deployed in Hatfield (Pretoria), Edenvale and Durban.