Vodacom expands 5G coverage in KZN

Ahead of the year-end break, Vodacom has announced it has greatly expanded its 5G coverage in the holiday mecca that is KwaZulu-Natal.

The operator, which launched its first commercial 5G services earlier this year using emergency temporary spectrum provided by communications regulator Icasa, said it now has 156 live 5G high sites across KZN, supporting both mobile and fixed-wireless services.

In May, Vodacom switched on limited 5G network coverage in pockets of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria.

“Vodacom will accelerate 5G network roll-out after additional 5G spectrum is auctioned at the end of March 2021,” the company said in a statement.

In KZN, Vodacom is using Icasa’s temporary spectrum allocation to provide 5G services using the following radio frequency bands: 2x10MHz at 700MHz, even though this is still being used by broadcasters, and 1x50MHz at 3.5GHz.

“Vodacom has decided to use the 700MHz band for widescale mobile 5G coverage and is supplementing network capacity with 3.5GHz where required.”

The company now offers 5G coverage in parts of Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Howick, Richards Bay, Ntuzuma, Umlazi and KwaMashu.  — © 2020 NewsCentral Media

Source: techcentral.co.za