Cell C HSPA+ population coverage at 43%
When Cell C first launched their 900MHz HSPA+ network in Port Elizabeth at the beginning of September 2010 its CEO Lars Reichelt made some bold promises.
The recent upgrade to the base stations serving Port Elizabeth from 21 Mbps to 42 Mbps was one such promise, as Reichelt said in September 2010 that Cell C was in a position to upgrade PE in 6 to 8 months after its launch date.
Although two weeks late, Cell C made good on their promise.
Reichelt also promised that 99% of the Port Elizabeth metropolitan area population would be covered in future, up from the 65% coverage when Cell C first started.
According to Reichelt, Cell C have delivered on this promise. They now cover the full PE metropolitan area and some of the surrounding region, which they peg at 115% population coverage.
97% population coverage by end 2011
The boldest promise of them all was that Cell C’s HSPA+ mobile data network would reach 97% of South Africans by the end of 2011.
Reichelt broke this target down into shorter term goals, explaining that Cell C planned to cover 34% of the South African population by the end of 2010 and 67% of the population by mid-2011.
Cell C’s goals are very ambitious when one considers that it took Vodacom five years to provide 3G coverage for 50% of South Africa’s population while MTN only achieved 48% population coverage for its 3G network in August 2010.
At the beginning of 2011 Cell C said that it covered 40% of South Africa’s population, having reached its goal of 34% coverage by the end of 2010.
Ron Reddick, Cell C’s chief technology officer, revealed that they now cover 43% of South Africa’s population with their HSPA+ mobile broadband network.
This coverage is achieved through 1,550 active HSPA base stations of a total of 2,500, Reichelt said. The non-active sites are still in testing.
Reddick said that they expect a spike in coverage in the coming months as fibre used for backhaul from their sites comes online. Once the fibre is in place they can commission a large number of sites at once, Reddick said.
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