Vodacom to pump $27m into Eastern Cape

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Operators; 12 July 2023; 7216 views

Vodacom announced it will invest ZAR500 million (US$27.4m) into its network and power backup across the Eastern Cape of South Africa in its 2023/24 financial year, as part of plans to expand its 5G network.

In a statement, Vodacom said the investment will expand connectivity into deep rural areas and townships in the region that did not have coverage previously. The coverage expansion will connect hundreds of thousands of people for the first time.

The majority of the capex will go to deploying new base stations, expanding network capacity, and power backup upgrades to combat power outages – to enable 5G expansion, deployment of 5G began in 2021 in the Eastern Cape.

The operator stated 106 deep rural sites will be built in the following municipalities: Buffalo City, Matatiele, Mbashe, Mnquma, Nelson Mandela Bay, Ngqushwa, Ngquza Hill, Ntabankulu, and Port St Johns, to name a few.

LTE capacity expansions will be carried out on 396 sites and 17 new urban sites will be deployed across the Eastern Cape. Plans are in place to expand from three live 5G sites to 50 in the region.

Vodacom Eastern Cape Region Managing Executive Zakhele Jiyane said: “It is important for us to invest in the next generation of communication technology to give our customers access to networks that provide faster speeds and support the digital economy. Therefore, our accelerated investment in 5G in this financial year is in line with our commitment to connect the unconnected and will ultimately help the region bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural areas of the province.”

Jiyane added the operator saw 40% data traffic growth due to “attractive rates and network resilience” leading to increasing NPS scores, he claimed.