Vodacom ready for LTE
Vodacom has successfully completed its LTE trial, and 60% of the operator’s radio access network (RAN) is LTE ready. This is according to Vodacom CTO Andries Delport.
A large portion of Vodacom’s R6.976 billion capital expenditure over the last financial year was invested in the company’s radio access network (‘RAN’) renewal project, transmission and new base station sites. This included getting the network ready for launching LTE.
Apart from growing its 3G network by 973 towers (to 5,263 towers) over the last twelve months, Vodacom is also serving 4,300 of these sites through their own microwave and fibre transmission links.
Spectrum needed to launch LTE services
With the growth in Vodacom’s 3G network and the growing demand for data it raises the question of why the operator does not launch commercial LTE services. The answer, according to Delport, is simple: a lack of spectrum.
To launch commercial LTE services operators need suitable spectrum, but ICASA and the DoC are dragging their feet when it comes to handing out this valuable resource.
MTN has also previously indicated that they are ready to launch commercial LTE services, and are only waiting for spectrum from the regulator to make this happen.
Many industry players have hoped for the spectrum assignment process to happen soon, but this may not be the case.
Communications minister Dina Pule recently told parliament that they committed to finalising the policy direction on high-demand spectrum in this current financial year. This is a step back from her previous promise that the DoC were aiming to publish the policy in May 2012.
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