5G21.08.2024

MTN 5G close to big milestone

About four years after first launching 5G, MTN is close to covering half of South Africa’s population with the latest generation of cellular connectivity.

5G’s marketing often focuses on its faster speeds. However, in the South African context, this might not be its most important feature.

5G is also significantly more resource-efficient, allowing mobile networks to do more with limited spectrum than they could using 4G and 3G.

MTN launched its 5G services in late June 2020, about two months after its biggest rival, Vodacom.

While it was a bit later to the party, it has rapidly expanded coverage, with multiple comparisons over the past few years showing it had surpassed the reach of Vodacom’s rollout.

In recent feedback, the country’s second biggest mobile network told MyBroadband it reached 44% population coverage for 5G this year.

That is a 19 percentage point increase from the 25% coverage it had achieved at the same point in August 2023.

It has also rolled out its entire target of 900 new 5G sites in 2024, with more than four months remaining in the year.

MyBroadband’s Speed Test results show the operator’s customers are currently achieving average download speeds of around 180Mbps and average uploads of 40Mbps on its 5G network, while latency is in the low 20ms range.

MTN has also made significant strides in improving its overall network reliability in 2024 in response to load-shedding.

Firstly, it concluded its national network resilience rollout in the first quarter, increasing its overall network availability to 98%.

This programme saw MTN pour tens of billions of rand into backup power at its towers and other key network sites, ensuring it could keep customers online for longer during load-shedding and other power outages.

In addition to 5G investments, MTN has modernised over 400 4G sites in the first half of the year, with another 25% of its 4G sites set to be upgraded in the last six months of 2024.

In total, the company has spent R5.6 billion on network expansions, upgrades and resilience in 2024.

The mobile network also listed several key milestones in its network improvement strategy achieved during the year:

MTN network availability showing strong results even during severe weather conditions experienced in KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape ,and Eastern Cape.
MTN achieving the number one position on the overall Net Promoter Score.
MTN winning the MyBroadband Best Mobile Network in South Africa in both the first and second quarters in 2024.

Load-shedding reprieve slashing operating costs

South Africa is currently experiencing its longest break in load-shedding since 2019.

The ongoing reprieve lasted throughout the second quarter of 2024 and has already persisted past the halfway point of the third quarter of the year.

That has brought enormous relief to South Africa’s networks, whose performances took a hit in the past few years as the power cuts strained their backup capacity.

MTN said the reduction in power cuts has positively impacted its operations, particularly in terms of reducing generator usage.

“The demand for backup power from generators has decreased, directly influencing our operational costs,” MTN said.

The mobile network has also tightened its fuel management controls, dropping fuel costs by 27% at base stations and 59% at hubs and switches.

“These reductions highlight our commitment to efficiency, cost-saving measures, and commitment towards reducing emissions, while also ensuring that our network remains reliable during power disruptions,” MTN said.

The maps below compare MTN’s 5G network coverage in various areas in August 2024 with the same locations half a year ago.