Vodacom KwaZulu Natal deploys additional base station sites to power up Vodacom Durban July

DURBAN – The 2017 instalment of the Vodacom Durban July, Africa’s biggest horse racing event, will drive significantly high voice and data traffic this coming weekend. To cater for this demand, Vodacom KwaZulu Natal has deployed additional base stations and WiFi hotspot capacity in and around Greyville Racecourse

The Vodacom Durban July is strongly associated with fashion, meaning that the event attracts media attention as local celebrities and fashion lovers flock the event, using every opportunity they get to take and share images, using popular social media sites.

Steven Barnwell, Managing Executive for Vodacom KwaZulu commented:

“The Vodacom Durban July is a major contributor to KwaZulu Natal’s economy and one of the biggest events in our national calendar that push both voice and data on our network, and as such, require additional resources. To this end, we have deployed five WiFi hotspots and 10 in-field base stations, comprising of 2G, 3G and superfast LTE. Ten base stations cover the in-field and the hospitality suites in the grandstand area. Two additional mobile base stations have been deployed within the Vodacom Red town (formerly Boomtown) area and within the infield of the racecourse. This will allow seamless uploads and downloads of photos and allow for live high quality video streaming.”

Carrier aggregation is a new method of enhancing the user experience which will be deployed at this year’s event. This new technology will enable faster speeds and enhance user experience. Additionally, Wi-Fi hotspots will be deployed at all Vodacom charging stations and within the VIP areas. The charging stations will be situated at strategic locations on the infield and within the Vodacom Red town hospitality areas. This is all made possible by Vodacom’s extensive, superfast self-provisioned fibre network linking these base stations and providing internet access for the WiFi Hotspots.

In the 2016/2017 financial year Vodacom invested an additional R550 in infrastructure in KZN. The region invested R1 billion in the network in the region in 2015, bringing network investment in the province to over R1.5 billion in two years.

Over the past year alone, Vodacom invested R8.5 billion in network infrastructure across South Africa, further expanding its 2G, 3G and 4G coverage, increasing data speeds and further enhancing customer experience.