Massive cash injection for Cell C

Paul Hjul said:
^ isn't there also a case of continuous network revision at play. VC is surely replacing and upgrading equipment on a fairly continuous basis but I am sure you guys have some equipment that is older than when CellC came to the 43G party?

So if ICASA were to give BobMugabeTelecoms the relevant licences and they looted the relevant financing and installed a brand spanking new HSDPA+ network tomorrow, their network would be "newer" than VCs network but is based on older technologies (which could be marketed as "matured") but within a couple of years 60% of their network would be older.
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No, this is where you're wrong. All mobile operators continuously refresh their radio networks, at least those with funds. That's partly where the 7 Billion we spend per year goes. An operator with limited Capex might rather have an issue.

We're in perpetual upgrades for whatever reason. The current flavour is what we call single-RAN, allowing better efficiencies, lower costs per base station and easier re-farming. Rolling out fibre to all the towers is also a high priority.

Right now nearly our whole 3G network is running at 42Mb/s, called Dual Carrier (DC), the latest version of 3G available.

Would be interesting to see how many Cell C towers are on DC. Can't recall any published numbers after that one, well publicised, tower in PE a few years ago. Maybe MyBB can post some numbers, if they have it?
 
Right now nearly our whole 3G network is running at 42Mb/s, called Dual Carrier (DC), the latest version of 3G available.
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Yikes
Okay I had assumed that with 7 billion a year you'd take a few years to get to Dual Carrier across a network of Vodacom's size. My assumption - based largely on the lack of evidence from CellC is that 70-80% of VC and MTNs network is "newer" currently. Therefore even if they invest 5 billion into their network tomorrow such that half of their network as built is newer without garnering a constant stream for funds it will take 18 months to get back to 70% of the big boys networks being newer - the relative sizes of the networks being part to contribute. Having the "newest tower" is meaningless if 70% of your equipment is faulty or if your competitors new equipment is being installed next month.
 
Paul Hjul said:
Yikes
Okay I had assumed that with 7 billion a year you'd take a few years to get to Dual Carrier across a network of Vodacom's size.
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It's all about planning and the right partners. In fact, the move to 84Mb/s is already planned in. Just waiting for the modems.

The choice of vendor can make or break a network.
 
Well I think Vodacom has managed to transfer its skills from Greyville to bet on the right horse with network technologies :D

Wait 84Mb/s *blink
is that a contest with Telkom MSANs - because ultimately fixed will win it has fibre ... (of course whoever can have the fibre but still)
 
Haldex said:
Asked whether the cash injection would help Cell C fix the network problems users have been reporting,
Knott-Craig said, “Yes. Without investment we can’t address them.”

Bailout?
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Exactly... if they were using the cash to pay off bad debt then fine... but they are using it to grow, that is not a bail out.
 
Paul Hjul said:
Well I think Vodacom has managed to transfer its skills from Greyville to bet on the right horse with network technologies :D

Wait 84Mb/s *blink
is that a contest with Telkom MSANs - because ultimately fixed will win it has fibre ... (of course whoever can have the fibre but still)
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There is no doubt in my mind that Vodacom's Engineering group is the best in the country. Not just in getting the next technology right - remember when we were the first to launch 3G and others were saying there is no future in 3G? To this day they've not caught up. Or when we launched LTE while some were trying to get it out the door for a year? - but in maintaining performance with a fast growing base.

It's one thing to build a new, small network with few users and see initial high speeds, low latencies and a stable connection. The question is can you maintain these while taking on millions of new users? Looking at tests like speedtest.net Vodacom's performance is consistently high over the largest % of the population. That takes some doing. And lots of money.

84Mb/s is the next iteration of HSPA and will help a lot in increasing capacity.
 
@ JvZ

Is it possible to get a diagram of where VC has currently installed fibre? Also where the next rollouts will be? I realise this may be deemed "secure" information, but I am sure your main competitors already know, so it would be nice from a consumer point to have an idea were you are at.
 
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