Can Vodacom and MTN handle increased data loads?

Rudolph Muller

Rudolph Muller is the editor at MyBroadband and covers telecoms and broadband news. Rudolph comes from an academic background, but left the University of...

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Over the last few years the demand for mobile data has increased exponentially, and this growth is showing no signs of abating.  The increased demand for mobile data is partly driven by smartphone usage, and smartphone handset sales are expected to grow by over 30% this year.

Cellular networks across the globe are already buckling under the massive demand for mobile data, and the iPhone and other data-hungry mobile phones are causing some networks to grind down to a near halt.

According to Kevin Russell, CEO of the mobile operator 3 in the UK, the telecommunications industry has under-invested in 3G over the past few years.  This caused many users to experience very slow data speeds, or even no data service, despite the fact that they have good signal strength.

Russell said that the mobile industry is not ready for the explosion in mobile data, and that cellular operators will have to invest in far more cellular masts (sites) to ensure that consumers experience good service levels.

Despite the investment needed to increase network capacity, Russell said that prices should come down instead of going up.  The 3 CEO said that the key to pricing is competition, and that as long as there is healthy competition in a market good pricing, innovation and high quality of service always follow.

MTN investing to ensure it copes with demand

South Africa has shown particularly strong growth in mobile data usage, fuelled partly by the high percentage of consumers who use mobile data cards instead of fixed line broadband services. 

MTN recently said that they have seen a 100% growth in data usage year-on-year.  Vodacom is likely to have seen a similar growth on the back of the increase in mobile data subscribers and iPhone users over the last two years.

The two cellular providers are however confident that they are ahead of the curve regarding data demand.

MTN said that its network is well positioned to handle the higher data traffic, with a robust basic platform, advanced software features and a fine tuned network.  MTN further pointed out that it is addressing all aspects of its network architecture to cope with the growing data traffic. 

On the last mile radio links to subscribers MTN says that their partnership with Huawei and Ericsson ensures that they are on the cutting edge of 3G technologies and network upgrades.  MTN is currently upgrading many sites in their network to 14.4 Mbps HSPA and 21.1 Mps HSPA+ to address speed and capacity concerns.

MTN is further investing in its own metro fibre network to alleviate some of the constraints in transmission capacity, and is also building a national fibre network in partnership with Neotel and Vodacom.  To ensure adequate international bandwidth MTN has invested heavily in two international fibre projects:  EASSy and WACS.  Hence MTN’s confidence that it is spending enough money to ensure that it will be able to cater for the increased data demand from its subscribers in future.

Vodacom well positioned

Vodacom confirms that new devices and applications are placing a high data demand on their network.  “Over the past few years the wide range of new smartphones with easy access to data services with on-screen, easy access to applications such as Facebook, Twitter, browsing, email, Google maps, chat and other applications which are data-hungry, have placed a high demand on data usage across 2.5G and 3G networks,” the company said.

Vodacom stated that it is closely monitoring the data growth on its network, and is actively expanded its mobile footprint to ensure that it is not faced with capacity problems.  “We have significantly invested in upgrading its network in terms of technology, capacity and bandwidth,” said Vodacom.

“During the current financial year we are investing in additional 3G base stations to increase the capacity and footprint of our 3G/UMTS network. In addition Vodacom is making large investments in renewing the Radio network and the Core Packet network. These projects provide additional capacity and the latest functionality including HSPA+.”

Vodacom is also investing in its own fibre network.  “Another key area which we have investment in, is in our national transmission backbone network with the deployment and completion of 10 of 11 optic fibre rings,” said Vodacom.

Challenges

A lack of transmission capacity (mainly purchased from Telkom) and spectrum limitations however continue to hamstring local cellular operators. 

It is well known that there is a massive backlog in transmission link orders from Telkom, and ICASA’s lackluster performance on spectrum allocation and assignment is making it difficult for mobile operators to make the most of wireless technologies available to them.

“There is obviously limited spectrum available to Vodacom to provide its radio-based products and services. In addition, the increased demand for data services requires massive transmission bandwidth and capacity. Vodacom addresses transmission bandwidth and capacity requirements on an ongoing basis, however the issue of sufficient spectrum is more complicated,” Vodacom said.

Can Vodacom and MTN handle increased data loads? << Discussion