MTN South Africa has set its sights on decommissioning its 3G network by 2027, as it looks to technologies such as 5G.
So said Charles Molapisi, MTN South Africa CEO, yesterday in a wide-ranging interview with ITWeb at the mobile network operator’s (MNO’s) headquarters in Johannesburg.
While the immediate priority is switching off the 3G network, Molapisi said 2G will linger because of some machine-to-machine devices on which the older technology is embedded.
MTN South Africa now has over 4 000 live 5G sites across the country, with 44% of the population covered. It plans to reach over 60% coverage in 2025.
According to Molapisi, decommissioning the 3G network by 2027 will ensure all South Africans have access to faster, more efficient 4G and 5G technology.
While 3G marked the beginning of mobile internet access, enabling basic browsing and e-mail on the go, it was 4G that truly transformed smartphones into powerful multimedia devices, supporting high-definition streaming, video calls and fast downloads.
Now, 5G is pushing the boundaries further with lightning-fast speeds, ultra-low latency and the ability to connect millions of devices simultaneously.
“MTN’s target is to decommission the 3G layer of the network. The reason for this is because it is a very inefficient layer, which is quite expensive to maintain. We can use the spectrum for better technologies, such as 4G,” Molapisi said.
“We want to collapse the 3G layer and narrow the 2G layer and just provide a sliver of 2G. We have already started on this. In some areas, because of the level of 4G penetration, we have re-farmed some of the 3G network. It’s not national yet, but the smart way of doing this is to look at it by locality.”
Generational drive
He added that MTN needs to switch off the 3G network because it’s simply not feasible to keep supporting multiple generations of networks simultaneously.
“It will be too much in terms of capex and opex, as well as maintenance of the infrastructure. With 2G, in some instances, we have done spectrum re-farming where we have used some of the 2G spectrum for 4G spectrum.”
According to Molapisi, MTN does not see 2G being completely decommissioned for now. “The reason for that is in machine-to-machine devices, such as security gates at estates, vehicle tracking systems and point-of-sale machines, some of them 3G or 4G networks. Some of them are 2G, so you can’t rip them out very quickly. But these devices are not data-hungry – they do ping the network a lot but they don’t transmit a lot.”
On satellite connectivity plans, he pointed out that MTN sees it as a complementary technology to terrestrial networks.
His comments come amid heated discussions about the potential landing of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service in South Africa.
Some media reports have alleged that MNOs are pushing for the likes of Starlink not to be licensed in the country, as they fear competition.
“We welcome them into the market, contrary to what we hear being reported all the time about MNOs being against satellites,” Molapisi said.
“We are comfortable with welcoming them because we believe they’ve got a place in the market, and we believe they can complement us in some areas that we can’t reach, such as remote areas. So, there are no issues with us.”
However, he pointed out that MTN and the local telco industry believe there must be regulatory parity.
“If a satellite service provider comes to compete with MNOs, it must be governed by the same regulatory framework that governs the MNOs. If I am supposed to do quality of service, they should also do the same. If I am doing KYC [know your customer], they must do KYC. If I am doing end-user subscriber regulations, they should also do the same. That has been the fundamental position for the industry.
“We are not even close to being called anti-competition; we see them as supporting technologies. It’s a different technology compared to what we have and it’s got its own benefits. I think if we partnered, we can deliver services for the betterment of the country.”
Strong MoMo movement
Turning to the Mobile Money (MoMo) platform, Molapisi noted he is impressed with the product’s growth in the South African market.
The mobile financial service allows users to send, receive and store money using their mobile phones.
In 2020, the mobile operator relaunched is MoMo platform in Johannesburg, about four years after the service failed to take off in the country.
According to MTN, MoMo has reached 13 million registered users in South Africa, with monthly active users growing steadily.
In its latest financial results, the telco says MoMo’s South African revenue grew 27.6% in Q1, contributing to an overall fintech revenue increase of 2.4% for MTN SA.
The product portfolio now includes insurance and payments, supporting digital inclusion and small business participation.
“We are encouraged by the signs that we are seeing. We are now even more certain that this product is relevant for this market. There had been a misconception that MoMo was not relevant to the South African market because it’s a banked population,” Molapisi said.
“However, we all know there are a number of people that need access to financial inclusion. So, there is a need for the product.
“We are encouraged by the number of subscribers, and now our biggest focus is to grow the services. The key services that we are working very hard to grow include lending. Insurance and MoMo Pay are doing well, but they need to pick up. The take-up has been slower than we expected, but we are encouraged by the growth.”
Molapisi also revealed that MTN SA invested R1.2 billion in Q1 (ex-leases) to maintain resilience and improve customer experience, and now has 99% network availability.
He added that the telco invested R4.6 billion in energy resilience, including battery backup, solar power and other alternative energy solutions to keep the network running.
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