Vodacom Eastern Cape network ready to keep customers connected this festive season

GQEBERHA - The Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency is optimistic that local domestic travellers will flock to the province to experience its pristine beaches, laid-back coastal charm, heritage sites and outdoor adventures. The Vodacom Eastern Cape region has made major network improvements to accommodate the increasing traffic needs, ensuring that tourists will stay connected throughout the busy 2024 holiday season.

"For the past few months, Vodacom Eastern Cape region has made efforts to provide a consistent network experience during this festive period so that customers can have peace of mind that they can stay connected when visiting the province this festive season. We modernised the network infrastructure, rolled out new 240 5G sites and thus improving network capacity, 4G capacity added to 40 towers across the province. The rollout will enable better connectivity and improved network speeds for the end user. Additionally, we have enhanced network quality and availability on 98 locations located in popular tourist destinations throughout the province.”

“I can assure those who will be visiting areas such as Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, Buffalo City Metro, OR Tambo District Municipality, Kariega, Garden Route, will experience improved data speeds and enjoy great voice quality on the network because of the latest upgrades.”  says Zakhele Jiyane, Managing Executive for Vodacom Eastern Cape.
The upgrades are part of the R500 million capex spend for the region for this financial year which prioritised modernising the network, energy projects and accelerating broadband coverage across the region, particularly in townships and deep rural areas of the province. This investment forms part of the company’s commitment to drive digital inclusion in the communities in which it operates.

With power/energy issues still present in certain parts of the province, the region improved back-up power at 107 locations to ensure network stability and overcome any potential downtime and congestion issues in key areas in the province. Seventy-six  towers received power infrastructure upgrades and 31 new standby generators were installed at key network facilities.
The local telecom business continues to face significant challenges from base station vandalism and theft, since these illegal activities affect network services, causing frequent outages for our customers. Vodacom Eastern Cape has taken a holistic approach to handling this. Over 100 areas per month experience theft and vandalism, resulting in interruption of services each month.

To mitigate these challenges, Vodacom Eastern Cape has invested in robust security measures to protect base station sites and equipment.  “While we have invested significantly in boosting our security measures at our base station sites, we acknowledge that the fight against vandalism and theft is ongoing with crime syndicates finding new ways to carry out their illegal operations. That is why we are appealing to all stakeholders, from law enforcement to communities, to play a part in curbing these offences,” says Jiyane.

Vodacom urges citizens to report incidents of battery theft or site vandalism through their toll-free number: 082 241 9952 or by contacting SAPS on 10111.