Vodacom LTE-Advanced is here, with impressive results
Vodacom rolled out its LTE-Advanced service to a handful of sites in Gauteng in November and December 2015.
Vodacom switched on its LTE-A service at Vodacom World in Midrand; Gautrain Station platforms in Sandton, Rosebank, and Park; and the Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria.
The performance of Vodacom’s LTE-A service is impressive, with typical download speeds exceeding 100Mbps.
Supported smartphones
LTE-A handset support is still limited, but some latest-generation high-end smartphones already have LTE-A connectivity.
LTE-A-capable phones include the Samsung Galaxy S6+, the Samsung Note 5, and the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
Samsung uses a 4G+ logo to show LTE-A, and a 4G logo to show LTE.
A lack of spectrum a big challenge
The lack of spectrum it has access to posed a big challenge for Vodacom when rolling out LTE-A.
Vodacom could only use sites where it had good control over the environment – typically sites which acted as a contained environment where it was possible to control external interference.
Vodacom also had to re-farm spectrum in both the 1,800MHz and 2,100MHz bands. This included using 2 x 10MHz in the 1,800MHz band that had to be re-farmed from 2G, and between 5MHz and 15MHz in the 2,100MHz band that had to be re-farmed from the 3G band.
For its deployment, Vodacom used a combination of MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) and SISO (single input, single output) antennae.
Other technical solutions then had to be implemented to avoid performance impacts on the 2G and 3G base, including re-farming 900MHz from 2G to 3G.
Vodacom said the current data speeds could be substantially higher, but a lack of spectrum is severely hampering the roll-out and the performance of LTE-Advanced.
It said it is looking to roll-out further LTE-A sites, but a lack of spectrum is limiting these plans.
Vodacom LTE-A speeds
The screenshots below show tests on the Vodacom LTE-A network at various sites around Gauteng.
Brooklyn Mall LTE-A test using 4 handsets
Brooklyn Mall LTE-A test
Park Station LTE-A test
Rosebank Station LTE-A test
Sandton Station LTE-A test
More on Vodacom and LTE-Advanced
Vodacom breaks 200Mbps with 4G
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