Over the next two months Vodacom will be upgrading its network in the Bloemfontein and Kimberley central business districts (CBDs). The upgrade, which will see the replacement of the radio equipment in the company’s base stations, is expected to increase capacity and further improve network performance.
“What we’re doing is essentially replacing the very heart of the network in these CBDs. The benefit of this is twofold – firstly, it will improve the customers’ experience on our network, and secondly, the new equipment uses less energy and requires less cooling, which is better for the environment,” said Jorge Mendes, Vodacom’s Managing Executive: Central Region. This latest technology upgrade ensures that Vodacom’s customers will continue to experience the best and widest coverage in the country.
The upgrade, which is due to start today in Kimberley, is expected to be completed by the end of November. This includes an optimisation period during which network fine-tuning takes place to get the most out of the new equipment.
“Once the new equipment has been installed we’ll then start the optimisation process. There may be some network instability during this period, but I must stress that this will be temporary and we’ll be doing our absolute best to minimise any possible disruption” said Mendes.
In total, Vodacom will upgrade more than 175 sites in the Kimberley and Bloemfontein CBDs. This is on top of having rolled out an additional 56 new sites across the region in the past year and a half to further extend coverage. Vodacom is also busy increasing the number of sites connected to its own high-speed transmission infrastructure.
This activity forms part of Vodacom’s on-going network investment strategy, which has seen the company invest more than R28 billion in South Africa over the past five years. Vodacom plans to spend in the region of another R7 billion on the network in the current financial year.
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