Vodacom, Cell C and MTN recently announced successful testing of LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U), but analysts are divided on how significant an impact the technology can make in the long-term.
SA's lack of radio frequency spectrum availability has left mobile operators with little choice but to re-farm existing spectrum, or find alternatives to cater for the high demand for digital services.
LTE-U aggregates both licensed and unlicensed spectrum bands and uses the same 5GHz unlicensed band usually used by WiFi operators.
Ovum senior analyst Richard Hurst says the recent LTE-U hype needs to be taken in the context that spectrum challenges are hindering local operators rolling out their LTE services.
"Operating in the unlicensed bands is a quick fix, but we do need to have access to the other LTE bands for the entire LTE ecosystem to flourish. It should not be viewed in isolation but rather as part and parcel of the wider LTE range of services."
Africa Analysis MD Dobek Pater says LTE-U "is not a substitute for the 2.6GHz spectrum and certainly not for the low frequency spectrum".
He believes operators will likely use the technology with more of a strategic point of view - to provide users with better signal and user experience - rather than an economic point of view for large-scale network deployments.
Getting competitive
Last month, MTN was the first to announce its LTE-U trial with Ericsson, which achieved downlink throughputs exceeding 200Mbps at MTN's store in Morningside, Johannesburg. A further partnership with Huawei as part of a commercial trial for 4.5G saw MTN hit 1Gbps mobile throughput via the aggregation of two unlicensed LTE 5GHz carriers with one licensed LTE carrier.
Vodacom and Cell C would not be shown up, however, and both followed with media releases on their own LTE-U trials. Vodacom says it also breached the 1Gbps milestone during a laboratory test last week.
"Breaking 1Gbps represents an important milestone for LTE network speeds in SA, as it shows what can be achieved by combining adequate spectrum with the latest technology," according to Vodacom CTO Andries Delport.
For the test, Vodacom aggregated different spectrum bands including one carrier of its own licensed spectrum and two carriers of unlicensed ISM spectrum.
"Lack of spectrum has become one of the biggest hurdles in deploying high-speed broadband services to consumers," Delport adds.
Cell C, also in a trial with Huawei using a "pre-commercial device", recently achieved a top download speed of 630.13Mbps and 46.27Mbps upload, on its LTE-U test site.
Tim Parle, senior consultant at BMI-TechKnowledge, explains the demonstrations have so far shown the concept of carrier aggregation works and also "demonstrates to the authorities that unlicensed spectrum has value to the operators too".
Typical move
However, George Kalebaila, IDC senior research manager for telecoms and media in Africa, is more sceptical and sees the attempts by mobile operators to grab headlines with LTE-U as "a marketing gimmick".
"Firstly, none can be described as a live commercial deployment as there are no commercially available devices using LTE-U technology. It is typical of vendors and mobile operators to be seen to be first to market with the latest technology."
Kalebaila believes LTE-U "will remain in lab type environments at least in SA in the short- to medium-term".
"Currently, this is largely a technology demonstration as there are limited LTE-U-compatible devices on the market and in the hands of consumers. Until there is a reasonable level of adoption of devices, it will remain a niche application," adds Parle.
However, he believes that in time, as more devices become available, LTE-U "will certainly have a role to play" and will find application in airports, train stations, sports stadiums, etc.
"These subscribers can be offloaded to WiFi, or partially held on the network with LTE-U."
Kalebaila says LTE-U's commercial viability will always be contested, especially by WiFi operators that believe mobile operators are unfairly encroaching on their tuff.
"Like WiFi, it will be applicable mainly in indoor or hotspot type environments as a high-speed alternative to WiFi. I see it as being part of the spectrum mix for mobile operators in places such as malls, airports, indoor applications or for temporary mass events such as concerts."
However, MTN says LTE-U makes use of Carrier Sensing Adaptive Transmission technology to avoid interfering with WiFi networks, thereby allowing LTE-U and WiFi to coexist within the 5GHz unlicensed band.
Vodacom's executive head of access network engineering, Nicholas Naidu, told ITWeb that LTE-U interferes less with WiFi networks than two WiFi networks do with each other.
Spectrum still an issue
Kalebaila says what is of utmost urgency is for government to finalise the spectrum allocation for 4G so the operators can deploy and expand 4G services outside metro areas.
"SA's mobile market is beyond saturation, and growth will only come through enabling other digital services such as IOT [Internet of things], enterprise mobility and video services. Mobile operators need access to good 4G spectrum for them to cost-effectively provide these digital services and also enable the digital ecosystem to flourish," says Kalebaila.
SA's network operators have complained about their lack of access to spectrum for years. MTN SA CEO Mteto Nyati last week once again made his feelings clear at a media briefing in Sandton, when he called the lack of access to spectrum a "big problem" facing SA.
"We need to find ways to put pressure on the right people to make sure this spectrum gets allocated," he said.
Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub echoed Nyati's views at Vodacom's full year results presentation last week, saying he did not believe more spectrum would be allocated to operators in the next two years. Instead, he said, Vodacom is "optimising all types of technologies to make sure we can cope with the data traffic".
"The only thing we can really do is re-farm and do more in that respect and look at different partnerships with existing operators who have spectrum," Joosub told ITWeb in an interview.
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