Vodacom announced it has switched on Africa’s first live 5G mobile network, in the South African cities Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. Further rollout is planned to cover other parts of the country. The network will support both mobile and fixed wireless services and is currently available on twenty live 5G sites, eighteen of which are in Gauteng and two in Cape Town. With immediate effect, Vodacom customers with 5G enabled devices, and within a 5G coverage area, can access the new service.
Vodacom was recently assigned temporary spectrum by ICASA for the duration of the national state of disaster, including 50 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band. The operator said it used the spectrum to fast-track its 5G launch. It also makes Vodacom the first operator to activate temporary spectrum in South Africa.
The deployment of 5G will help Vodacom manage the 40 percent increase in mobile network traffic and the 250 percent increase in fixed traffic experienced during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Vodacom announced in 2018 that it had begun modernising its network to prepare for the deployment of 5G technology in South Africa, subject to the allocation of spectrum. Vodacom and Liquid Telecom also concluded managed network services and national roaming agreements for a national 5G network in December 2019.
The 5G network deployed operates in the same frequency bands that are expected to be permanently assigned through an auction later in the year. Existing 4G tariffs for mobile and fixed will initially apply to Vodacom’s 5G service offering, with special 5G tariffs to be announced in due course.
