Cell C switches on 42 Mbps in Port Elizabeth
Cell C officially launched its 42 Mbps HSPA+ services in Port Elizabeth today, only four days after Vodacom announced that they have exceeded 1,000 active 43.2 Mbps HSPA+ sites on their network.
Port Elizabeth was the launch city of Cell C’s 900MHz HSPA+ services in September 2010, and is now also the first city to receive the upgrade to 42 Mbps HSPA+ capable base stations.
Cell C entered the mobile broadband space in September last year to no small amount of fanfare, boasting not only the fastest speeds according to Ookla’s Net Index, but also the cheapest broadband in South Africa
When Lars Reichelt, CEO of Cell C, first unveiled their HSPA+ network in PE last year he also said that they were in a position to upgrade PE to 42 Mbps in 6 to 8 months. Eight months and two weeks later Cell C has delivered their promised upgrade.
Reichelt said that Cell C will perform 42 Mbps upgrades to their network across the country on an “as per needs basis.” They will only put it in where they need it and where it makes sense, he added.
Cell C joining Vodacom and MTN
Vodacom recently celebrated the fact that they have over 1,000 active 43.2 Mbps sites on their network.
Vodacom currently has over 4,300 3G (HSPA) sites in South Africa, of which 2,650 are 21Mbps enabled with the rest all supporting speeds of 14.4Mbps. Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys indicated that their target is to roll out at least another 1,000 3G towers in the coming year.
Vodacom CTO Andries Delport said that the company further plans to have at least 2,000 43.2Mbps HSPA+ towers by May 2011.
MTN has also started to roll out a 43Mbps network. “MTN is continuously rolling out both 21M and 43M sites in the country,” said MTN SA CTO Lambo Kanagaratnam.
“Our approach is to ensure that we meet the demand requirements of our subscribers, as measured by the physical location of the appropriate devices – as a first priority. Currently we have hundreds of ‘21M or better’ active sites in our network.”
Reichelt said that Cell C has over 2,500 base stations capable of running at 21 Mbps in the 900MHz band. Of those towers, 1,550 are in commercial use.
It appears that the race is now on to get as many 42 Mbps base stations live on the network as possible which is good news for consumers looking for a fast mobile connection.
Cell C 42Mbps HSPA+ launch << Comments and views
Loading ...