MTN grows its 900MHz mobile broadband network

Please i have never in my life ever seen MTN 3G on a network scan, I have see Telkom 3G, Cell C 3G & Vodacom 3G all over the country. But MTN do they even have 1 3G base station?
 
this article would have been more informative if it included the areas covered
 
MTN has the best 3G coverage in my area. Cell C, Vodacom and telkom don't come close. lol, 8ta is even roaming on MTN's network to supply us with 3G.
 
Would be nice to know if the Northern Cape qualifies as a rural area. Where I live MTN have only just upgraded from GPRS to EDGE this year. Vodacom's been on EDGE for almost 3 years. Telkom and Cell C roam on MTN and Vodacom.
 
The MTN coverage map is pretty useless, about 10x worse than iBurst's, which is saying a lot. Cell C and 8.ta have the best ones, which makes use of Google Maps. Vodacom's is not too bad either, but could be greatly improved.

Both Vodacom and MTN need to migrate their coverage maps to the Google platform. It's easy to use, gives aerial satellite views, and the search function just works.
 
ToxicWazte said:
Cell C and 8.ta have the best ones, which makes use of Google Maps.
Click to expand...
I had a look at cell C

They better wikkel if they want to get 90% of the population covered by year end - looks like only about 50% covered so far - the pink area is roaming on voda, so turn off that layer to see the real picture.

Gave up trying to open MTN map - 10 minutes and still cant see anything.
 
Last edited:
murray654 said:
I had a look at cell C

They better wikkel if they want to get 90% of the population covered by year end - looks like only about 50% covered so far - the pink area is roaming on voda, so turn off that layer to see the real picture.

Gave up trying to open MTN map - 10 minutes and still cant see anything.
Click to expand...

Actually, the pale pink area is 2G (GSM + GPRS), the light pink is 2.5G (EDGE), the dark pink is HSPA 21mbps, and the red is HSPA 42mbps. The 2G and 2.5G areas could be either Vodacom roaming, or Cell C's own base stations. The dark pink and red is definitely Cell C's own towers, as the roaming agreement they have with Vodacom excludes 3G services. Last I heard Cell C were carrying around 90% of their traffic on their own base stations and network. Very little is being routed through Vodacom nowadays.

Also, to achieve 90% population coverage doesn't equate to achieving 90% geographical area coverage. Remember population densities in the urban areas, metros, and suburbs is multiple times higher than in the rural areas. That's why telcos target these areas first, so that they can reach a large number of potential subscribers very quickly. Rural areas are always left to last, as they are the least profitable in the short to medium term.

Long term though, once we've reached a certain level of maturity and saturation in the market, you will see the telcos starting to battle it out in the rural areas.
 
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