South Africa’s leading mobile operator is the first to launch commercial 5G Internet service in Africa, with its mobile and fixed wireless services covering three South African cities.

Although currently only Vodacom customers in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town will be able to use these services, the company formulated a plan to launch its 5G network nationwide by the end of the year.

South African telecommunications regulatory body, ICASA, has recently granted the company temporary access to spectrum, with Vodacom utilising one 50 MHz block in the 3.5 GHz band to accelerate the 5G launch.

With this decision, Vodacom became the first mobile operator in South Africa to offer 5G services to ease the network congestion resulting from the COVID-19 lockdown. Back in December, the company signed a managed services and roaming agreement with a pan-African telecoms group Liquid Telecom in order to build a national 5G network.

Vodacom believes the 5G launch came at an important time, as the company has recently seen a 40% increase in mobile data usage, as well as a 250% rise in mobile network traffic as a direct result of the imposed lockdown. Shameel Joosub, the CEO of Vodacom Group, stated that it would help the company improve its network efficiency. He also expressed Vodacom’s pride in providing South Africa with world class network technology that is key in keeping the entire country connected during this difficult and uncertain period.

source: commsmea.com