Vodacom networks are well-prepared for South Africa’s holiday rush

Vodacom has prepared its networks for the influx of visitors to their holiday destinations
JOHANNESBURG – This year’s Summer Season is upon us and it promises to be a bumper tourist season, according to pundits. It also marks the time when our ports of entry will be a hive of activity due to throngs of international visitors and locals who will flock South African shores to experience our tourism ecosystem, including our beautiful beaches, lush winelands, the African sun, game reserves, aquariums, family-friendly theme parks and world class shopping malls.

Given that demand on Vodacom’s mobile networks around these hotspots increases dramatically, Vodacom has done a lot of work in the past six months to ensure that its mobile networks are geared up to handle the shift in high volumes of traffic this Festive season.

Andries Delport,Chief Technology Officer at Vodacom commented:

“Tourism experts are forecasting a bumper Festive season this year and the mobile data traffic is likely to more than double in certain places as a result. For the 2016 Festive season period, Vodacom’s data volumes increased by 50% across the country. As network leaders in SA and in keeping with our network leadership position, we’ve been ramping up investment on the network in recent months to make sure that we are ready for the high traffic in December and January. To this end, we deployed 100 brand new mobile base station sites to provide coverage and capacity at key areas along the coast as well some inland destinations.”

“Additionally, we completed the deployment of a further 21 temporary base stations in key holiday destinations. We have also upgraded the data capacity on 1 701 3G base stations and 535 4G sites across key provinces. On a practical basis, this means that we’ll be bringing faster data services and improved voice quality to tens of thousands of people when and where they need it, ensuring that we continue to deliver on our ‘Best network’ promise.”

For the six months ended 30 September 2017, Vodacom invested R4bn in the network to maintain its network lead; with widest coverage and fastest internet, as well as enhancing its IT systems in South Africa. Vodacom’s continued investment in infrastructure means it maintains its position of having the widest population coverage across all of 2G, 3G and 4G with 99.9%, 99.3% and 76.7% respectively.

“We have always maintained that the basis of our competitive advantage lies in the superiority of our network and we will continue to invest in the network, ensuring that we continue to deliver on our ‘Best network’ promise. Including the current period, capital expenditure across the Group will total at R37 billion over a three year period, with R26 billion in South Africa alone. The upgrades we’ve done on our network in the past six months mean that holiday makers can rest assured that they’ll enjoy the best network experience on our mobile networks,” concluded Delport.