Over R1bn investment in KZN cellular network infrastructure

VODACOM KwaZulu-Natal is investing over R1 billion into the region’s network to increase capacity and resilience and accelerate access to connectivity throughout the province, particularly in deep rural areas.

“In pursuing our aim of creating an inclusive digital society, we are making a significant investment into the region’s network. By expanding access to reliable, quality connectivity through the deployment of more sites and network upgrades, we aim to provide an exceptional network experience to our customers. With this effort, we hope to bring the benefits of digitalisation to all communities we serve,” says Imran Khan, managing executive, Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal.

Khan remarked that KZN is one of the toughest places to do business because investment has had to be diverted to repairing infrastructure and working around damaged infrastructure

From this expenditure, R700 million will go towards projects for radio access network, network capacity and upgrades, with R173 million allocated to improving core network infrastructure. The region plans to modernise 429 base station sites and expand LTE capacity to 774 sites in the current financial year.

“Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal’s 4G population coverage is 95.8%. We are rolling out 23 new urban sites and 129 deep rural sites across the region to expand this reach and drive digital inclusion, especially in underserved areas of the province. In addition, we now have circa 200 sites on 5G, with plans to switch on another 122 within the financial year,” adds Khan.

With growing automation and the integration of the IIOT into companies’ operations and processes, connectivity is critical. Khan says that the company has acted on requests from companies in KZN wanting to operate 5G enterprise sites. “There’s going to be an increased demand, a pull scenario, and we are happy to meet that demand.”

According to Vodacom, as a result of increased investment in network services, the company’s call drop rate in the province is 0.34% and the call setup success rate is 99.4%. Vodacom also says that the company provides the highest ‘overall reliability’ score in the province and best service for voice calls in an independent benchmarking audit by umlaut, part of Accenture.

Widespread loadshedding continues to affect the network in the region. To keep customers connected, Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal is investing R235 million into energy projects, including the procurement of 68 generators to add to an existing fleet of over 196 and increasing base station site power standby time to a minimum of four hours. These upgrades will improve network capacity and availability, particularly during stage 4-6 loadshedding.

Keeping towers powered during loadsheding is a cat-and-mouse game with criminal syndicates going to great lengths to steal backup batteries from towers. Khan says KZN is the worst for vandalism. The company is continuously implementing new systems – using hydrogen cell batteries, intelligent cameras and armed response, epoxy-coating, encasing generators in concrete slabs, and so on, but Khan says they also rely on communities, especially in outlying areas to keep an eye out for suspicious activity and report it to Vodacom’s hotline. Vodacom is also reintroducing solar power and has ambitions to be an IPP by 2025.

The cost to communicate remains a critical issue for customers facing major economic pressures. Vodacom KwaZulu Natal introduced personalised discounted voice and data offers such as Just4You, Just4You Town bundles for residents in certain KwaZulu-Natal towns and bigger prepaid data bundles with Prepaid LTE to make connectivity affordable. As a result, more customers can affordably use data, and consequently, data traffic has grown by 40% in the province over the past year.

In driving inclusion for all, Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal supports the Code Like a Girl initiative, aimed at inspiring more girls to explore careers that require coding skills to help them get a start in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields and industries. The region will be running an instalment of the programme, which trains girls between 14 and 18 years old in coding and other IT skills, in October this year.

“Inclusive access to connectivity is how we are meeting our purpose in shaping a digitally enabled society and contributing to sustainable economic growth. At Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal, we remain committed to accelerating and expanding access to internet services, such as employment, education, healthcare and financial services, that can transform lives,” concludes Khan.