MTN has extended its long-term evolution (LTE) network to the Free State city of Bloemfontein.
The operator says LTE, which is "making waves" in SA's mobile and telecommunications sector, will go a long way to enhancing the country's global competitiveness.
Eben Albertyn, chief technology officer at MTN SA, says the company's LTE network will give MTN customers in the province's capital city faster speeds, and provide a better Internet experience.
He says MTN's team worked "tirelessly to deliver LTE to the central region, which becomes the fourth city - after Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban - to get a commercial LTE network. "The network is progressively being extended to other cities and peri-rural areas."
MTN claims the broadband evolution offers broadband speeds of up to 70Mbps. "Consumers can expect speeds of between 7Mbps and 20Mbps on average, dependent on network conditions."
Albertyn says the deployment of LTE in Bloemfontein is part of the operator's strategy to invest in better networks. "We have recently modernised most of our base stations in preparation for LTE and have re-farmed 2x 10MHz in 90% of our sites to provide faster connection speeds."
MTN flicked the LTE switch in November last year - just short of two months after first mobile operator Vodacom launched LTE commercially - pioneering the next generation technology in SA. At launch MTN switched on LTE networks in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban and said more would follow.
At the time the operator said - in addition to the launch of LTE - it had also modernised over 1 600 base station sites in preparation for LTE, and activated HSPA+ on close to 1 000 sites during 2012. The company noted it had re-farmed two by 10MHz in 90% of its LTE sites, which would provide faster connection speeds than other network systems running two by 5MHz.
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