SA is not likely to benefit from long-term evolution (LTE) next year, but faster mobile data speeds and cheaper broadband are on the cards.
Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys said 2012 is not likely to be the year that LTE takes off. However, he said South Africans will benefit from faster speeds and wider coverage, as operators invest in HSPA+.
Uys, addressing a media gathering last night, said LTE throughput will not be that much faster than the top-end HSPA+ capability. However, the technology is between 25% and 30% more efficient.
LTE - commonly referred to as 4G - will allow more people to connect to the network and speeds per user will increase, said Uys.
Several mobile operators, such as Vodacom, MTN and Cell C, have been trialling LTE, but will not be able to launch commercially until high-demand frequency in the 2.6GHz range becomes available.
Wireless Business Solutions is rolling out LTE and expects to launch commercially in the first half of next year. The company already has spectrum in the 2.6GHz range.
Operators have been waiting for more spectrum to become available for about five years. Today, the Independent Communications Authority of SA will launch a framework for licensing high-demand spectrum in the 2.6GHz and 800MHz ranges.
Uys said data use through smartphones is growing at 10 times the rate of dongles. Vodacom currently has 4.1 million smartphones on its network, and data use on average jumped from 70MB in the first quarter of the year to 100MB currently, he said.
However, data use through dongles is currently 515MB, marginally up from the 500MB that was being used on average six months ago, said Uys.
2012 will see a continuing trend towards more affordable mobile data, Uys said. While this year saw many promotional activities that pushed prices down, in real terms, costs dropped by about a quarter.
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