Vodacom SuperMobile
Vodacom, MTN, 8ta and Cell C are battling it out for market share in the South African mobile broadband market – their weapons; faster network speeds and lower data prices.
Vodacom, MTN and Cell C are actively growing their 21Mbps HSPA+ networks, and all three providers are also extending their 42Mbps footprints.
Even LTE is starting to emerge in South Africa with trial networks popping up to test the technology and select the right network partners for future deployments.
These technologies are not only aimed at boosting peak speeds to consumers in metropolitan areas, but also to increase the overall capacity on the network and hence increase the average performance experienced by all subscribers.
Vodacom SuperMobile project
Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys is so passionate about offering all South Africans access to the Internet at real-world speeds of at least 1Mbps, that he launched a SuperMobile project to make this a reality.
Uys said that while he encourages innovation to boost peak speeds, it is very important for the South African economy that all South Africans have broadband access. However, this is far easier said than done. PC penetration is very low in SA, and to build a 3G network which covers the whole country is very expensive and resource intensive.
Vodacom is planning to plough R6.6 billion into its network in South Africa over the next twelve months, which includes increasing transmission capacity, growing its 3G footprint and upgrading its current 3G network.
This is still only part of the plan to get all of South Africa connected, and Uys further suggests a new way of doing things to cover rural South Africa in which it does not make financial sense for operators to roll out 3G networks. According to the Vodacom CEO, an open access network – which uses lower frequency digital dividend spectrum – may be the answer.
This will ensure that the country as a whole benefits from valuable spectrum rather than only a few operators and people residing in high-density areas where profits are easier to realize, said Uys.
In such an initiative Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and 8ta will work together to build the network, and all these operators will have access to the network to serve their subscribers.
Internet devices becoming cheaper
A network is only one aspect of getting people connected, and affordable devices with which to access the Internet remain a problem. However, Uys said that Android based smartphones are becoming cheaper, and Vodacom is set to launch a new sub-R1,000 Android smartphones soon.
Uys previously said that they are looking at brininging a quality Android smartphone to the market this year which will cost around R500, putting it within reach of most working class South Africans.
Uys is also confident that their WebBox Internet-on-your-TV device may help in their quest to get more people online, albeit not with its current pricing model. Some of the ideas behind the WebBox device include affordable flat rated Internet access (similar to SA’s BlackBerry Internet pricing) and even including a DVB-T2 tuner in the device to coincide with the country’s digital TV migration.
So confident is the Vodacom CEO that these initiatives will pay off, that he has set a firm target of increasing the number of Internet users on their network from the current 9 million, to 25 million – in just two years.
“I encourage all telecoms operators, government and the ICT community as a whole to work together to get South Africa connected,” said Uys. “We cannot achieve this in isolation, and we must ensure that the benefit of the Internet is experienced by all South Africans to grow our economy and solve our social ills.”
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