MTN has confirmed its contract and TopUp customers will not pay additional fees for new generation technology, long-term evolution (LTE) on its network.
Serame Taukobong, MTN's chief marketing officer, says In order to access the operator's LTE network, new customers need to purchase a 128K LTE SIM card and subscribe to the LTE value-added service (VAS).
Existing customers with an LTE capable device can also access LTE as a VAS at no cost, says Taukobong.
MTN went live with the commercial availability of LTE in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban in December last year, with coverage extending to other major South African cities shortly afterwards
The operator has now modernised over 1 600 base stations in preparation for LTE, and last year activated HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access) on almost 1 000 sites.
MTN says most of these sites have been 10Mhz refarmed, allowing for a faster connection. "Refarming of availability, in reality, is playing a key role in enabling cost-effective LTE network migration. By re-using existing 2G and 3G spectrum for LTE, MTN is able to extend the lifespan of its existing spectrum assets and reduce the amount of additional spectrum required by up to a third."
Taukobong says customers with LTE-enabled devices on MTN's network will see speeds of up to 70mbps.
LTE for the prepaid market, he says, is under development. "MTN will announce availability in due time."
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