South Africa’s mobile operators are investing billions of Rands into upgrading and expanding their mobile broadband networks.<\/p>\n
With the strong growth in mobile data revenue, the cellular operators are fighting for market share through better coverage, faster speeds and more affordable services.<\/p>\n
This raises the question of which mobile operator is leading the mobile broadband coverage race.<\/p>\n
According to the Department of Communications<\/a>, which quoted commissioned research from BMI-T, South Africa has 75% broadband population coverage. However, the DoC did not provide a breakdown of where this coverage comes from.<\/p>\n The mobile operators give feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n According to information received from the operators themselves, Vodacom<\/a> is leading the mobile data race with 80% population coverage.<\/p>\n Cell C<\/a> said that they currently cover 72% of South Africa with their 3G network, while MTN<\/a> claims 65% 3G network coverage.<\/p>\n 8ta<\/a> has not provided their broadband population coverage, but 8ta head Amith Maharaj<\/a> recently said that they now have over 2,000 3G sites in their network.<\/p>\n It should be noted that network coverage is calculated differently from one operator to the next, which means that the figures should not be seen as an objectively verified comparison.<\/p>\n The following table provides an overview of the figures provided by the mobile operators.<\/p>\n Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n Vodacom boosts broadband with lower prices, higher speeds<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Best and worst telecoms companies: customer survey<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Free 8ta LTE trial details<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
\n Operator<\/strong><\/td>\n Number of 3G sites<\/strong><\/td>\n Claimed population coverage<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Vodacom<\/strong><\/td>\n 5,538<\/td>\n 80%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n MTN<\/strong><\/td>\n 3,534 (U2100), 317 (U900)<\/td>\n 65%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Cell C<\/strong><\/td>\n Unknown<\/td>\n 72%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 8ta<\/strong><\/td>\n 2,000<\/td>\n Unknown<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n