“As we move into our final implementation stages for the 2010 World Cup, it is encouraging to note that, having handled the increase in traffic over the festive season, the network is ready to process the huge volume increase in both voice and data traffic that we are anticipating during the event”, said Sameer Dave, Chief Technology Officer of MTN South Africa.
Last year, MTN South Africa invested R7.1 billion to upgrade its network and infrastructure, which now covers 98% of the country.
The network registered an increase in voice and SMS traffic during the festive season, with a 10% boost in voice calls and 75% increase in data usage driven by 3G/HSPA compared to the same period in 2008. In December, SMS volumes increased by almost 25%.
MTN added 540 HSPA sites to provide additional capacity for data transmissions and completed its core modernization to comply with FIFA World Cup’s expectations. The company activated 496 2G sites and 659 3G sites to cover almost 50% of the population with regards to 3G services accessibility.
The operator is currently upgrading and installing packet core nodes to extend network coverage, saying that the Gauteng fire rings are progressing well and test have already been done in October for the southern ring.
“It is anticipated that the northern ring will be completed by May this year, ensuring improved speech quality and increased bandwidth. The national long-distance fibre network between Johannesburg and Durban has 217km trenched”, explained Robin Maduray, GM Transmission Planning and Optimization at MTN.
Also, MTN announced it would provide enhanced network coverage for all 10 FIFA stadiums around the country and ensure that network usage by the communities in close proximity to the stadiums that host 2010 matches, are unaffected by this increased usage.
Launched in 1994, MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is a global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and has exclusive mobile content rights for Africa and the Middle East.
