{"id":102971,"date":"2014-05-31T20:05:16","date_gmt":"2014-05-31T18:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=102971"},"modified":"2014-06-02T08:22:44","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T06:22:44","slug":"vodacom-coverage-1994-vs-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cellular\/102971-vodacom-coverage-1994-vs-2014.html","title":{"rendered":"Vodacom coverage: 1994 vs 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last 20 years, Vodacom<\/a> has invested over R70 billion in its network, and the operator\u2019s coverage maps clearly show the value of this investment.<\/p>\n

Vodacom launched its first commercial cellular services on 1 June 1994, and at the time only had coverage in cities, large towns and along major roads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan was to install 500 base stations across the country, covering the main highways in the process,\u201d former Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

Vodacom underestimated the demand for mobile voice services, and after commercial services launched the cellphone industry exploded in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin five months Vodacom had increased its customer database by 540% and signed on 100,000 customers,\u201d said Knott-Craig.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe demand had been vastly underestimated. Vodacom started rolling out base stations at break-neck speed. At two base stations per day it could scarcely keep up, initially investing R250 million more than expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vodacom continued its aggressive network rollout, and now covers close to 100% of South Africa\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

Vodacom is continuing its network rollout, with a planned R9 billion investment in the current financial year.<\/p>\n

Vodacom\u2019s 3G network now covers 91.9% of the population, with plans to offer 3G wherever it offers voice services.<\/p>\n

The following network maps illustrate Vodacom\u2019s network growth from 1994 to 2014.<\/p>\n

Vodacom coverage in 1994<\/h3>\n
\"Vodacom<\/a>

Vodacom coverage map in 1994<\/p><\/div>\n

Vodacom coverage in 2014<\/h3>\n
\"Vodacom<\/a>

Vodacom 2G coverage<\/p><\/div>\n

More on Vodacom’s network<\/h3>\n

Our network is bigger, better, faster: Vodacom<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The first ever cellphones sold in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

What was your first mobile phone?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last two decades Vodacom invested R70 billion into its network, and the coverage maps show the value of this investment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[25163,25165,681,35,41],"class_list":["post-102971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-25163","tag-25165","tag-alan-knott-craig","tag-headline","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102971"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103329,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102971\/revisions\/103329"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}