First Telkom 5G network speed tests appear
Telkom looks poised to become the third South African telecoms operator to launch a mobile 5G network within the next few weeks.
MyBroadband observed four speed tests registered to Telkom’s 5G network on the MyBroadband Speed Test app on Wednesday, 12 October 2022.
The tests were linked to two smartphones — a Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T and Vivo V25 — in the Highveld area in Centurion, Gauteng.
Notably, this is also where the Telkom Park campus is located, suggesting employees may have conducted tests as part of a limited trial.
The Redmi Note 9T recorded the highest speed, measuring 266.77Mbps download and 45.44Mbps upload. That same test recorded a latency of 12ms.
We tried to find Telkom’s 5G network with a Samsung Galaxy S22+ but could not pick it up after searching around the Highveld area. Telkom’s campus is not open to the public, and we could therefore only scour its perimeter.
A Telkom spokesperson said the network operator would announce more information on its 5G plans during an event “later this month”.
MyBroadband understands that Telkom plans to hold an event on 27 October 2022.
Telkom would not confirm whether this event would mark its 5G network launch, or if it would merely announce the official launch date.
Telkom has been testing its 5G network with closed-access sites in selected parts of the country since at least February 2021.
In August 2021, the operator told MyBroadband it would drastically ramp up these sites from 10 to 60 locations by August 2022.
None of these sites have been available to regular customers, as they were being optimised for a commercial rollout.
Telkom has already upgraded its mobile core network to support non-standalone 5G radio technology, which uses 4G for control functions like signalling.
Telkom told MyBroadband it expects 5G access on its network to complement its LTE-Advanced connectivity and said it could account for 25-40% of connections by 2026.
Telkom will be third in mobile 5G, fourth overall
Should the operator launch its 5G network later this month, it would come more than two years after Vodacom and MTN rolled out their mobile 5G networks.
The two biggest South African operators have expanded their coverage significantly since that time and have seen speeds improve significantly.
MTN, in particular, ramped up its rollout in 2022 and covered around 20% of the South African population with 5G as of June 2022. It is aiming for 25% coverage by the end of the year.
Vodacom recently achieved an astounding 2.4Gbps download speed on a Samsung Galaxy S22+ with carrier aggregation technology that allowed it to dedicate a massive chunk of radio frequency spectrum to a single device.
MyBroadband’s own testing on a Galaxy S22+ saw us hitting 1.8Gbps on Fast.com, while a Vodacom engineer achieved 2.0Gbps on their Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Rain, which has extensive 5G coverage for fixed-location customers across South Africa, is also planning to roll out a 5G mobile network within the coming year.
The operator has also tabled a proposal to Telkom’s board to buy Rain in exchange for shares.
It believes such a transaction could have the potential to create a strong third mobile network operator and 5G “powerhouse” in South Africa.
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