SA's newest cellular operator, 8ta, is planning to trial a long-term evolution (LTE) network across 50 sites and has already built six stations around Gauteng.
Amith Maharaj, managing executive of 8ta, said the company will expand to Durban and Cape Town in the next few months. However, he said, LTE is “bleeding edge” technology and standards are still being devised.
8ta, which recently celebrated its first birthday, is investing for future growth and is rolling out 2G and 3G simultaneously, said Maharaj, speaking during the MyBroadband 2011 Conference yesterday. “We're here to stay; we're making significant investments.”
Maharaj said 80% of the cost of LTE is backhaul, which is why it makes sense for the company to make use of Telkom's existing fibre and copper infrastructure. He pointed out that 70% of broadband is consumed from fixed locations.
Maharaj said data is expected to increase 88 times between 2010 and 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 145%. Data will make up 35% of operators' revenue in 2016, from 14% last year, he said.
Smartphones will leap from 9% of devices to 29% of handsets by 2015, added Maharaj.
8ta is the latest company to launch an LTE trial as MTN, Vodacom and Cell C have already been testing the technology, while iBurst has announced it will launch a commercial fully-fledged 4G network in the first half of next year.
Doubling up
The operator currently has 3 000 base stations running on 3G and aims to cover 85% of SA's population with the technology in two years, said Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, MTN SA CTO.
MTN aims to increase its HSPA+ footprint and provide more towers capable of offering 21Mbps and 42Mbps, said Lambotharan. It is a “tall order”, but the company has made progress.
According to Lambotharan, broadband will be a catalyst for socio-economic development and enhance SA's global competitiveness. Lambotharan was also speaking during the MyBroadband 2011 Conference yesterday.
MTN is currently trialling an LTE network in four parts of Gauteng. It has already lit up 80 base stations with plans to reach 100, said Lambotharan, and the company has the largest Edge coverage in SA.
Lambotharan said MTN has re-farmed its 1 800MHz spectrum to trial LTE and is achieving local download speeds of almost 80Mbps. LTE offers an “enhanced lifestyle experience”, but a full scale network will depend on when more spectrum become available, he concluded.
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