Cell C’s LTE plans

Cell C will launch a commercial LTE offering before the end of 2012, given that nothing goes wrong. This is according to Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig.

Knott-Craig explained that Cell C will use their existing 2,100MHz spectrum, which is currently used for HSPA+ services, for their LTE network.

However, Cell C will only use the spectrum in areas where it will not influence the company’s existing mobile data network.

Cell C’s 3G network, which currently exceeds 3,000 sites across the country, is already LTE ready. However, the radio access network is only one part of delivering a great LTE experiencing.

Knott-Craig pointed out that any LTE site without fibre backhaul is useless, and it is a challenge to get fibre to all their base stations.

Despite these challenges Knott-Craig promised consumers that they can expect a great experience when Cell C launches commercial LTE products.

Consumers can further expect to pay the same for LTE as for Cell C’s other data products. Knott-Craig said that he considers a megabyte of data to be the same across a 2G, 3G or LTE network, and that there will be no differentiated pricing on data products according to speed.