MTN has over 1,000 active 5G sites located in 38 towns and metropolitans across South Africa, and it wants its 5G network to cover at least 25% of the population by the end of 2022.
MTN South Africa told MyBroadband that it would focus its 5G rollout on covering main metros, peri-urban areas, and larger townships.
“MTN currently has over 1000 active 5G sites across the country, and in order to bring the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to more people in an efficient and cost-effective way, the target is to have at least 25% of the population covered by 2022, with a strong focus on main metros, peri-urban areas, and larger townships,” it said.
MyBroadband recently asked MTN whether it believed the new spectrum it acquired in the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa’s auction in March 2022 would improve its 5G network speeds and latency.
The company’s executive for corporate affairs, Jacqui O’Sullivan, said that it didn’t expect the new spectrum to affect its 5G network as the spectrum it acquired is in the same bands it is already using.
“MTN acquired spectrum in the same frequency bands it has been using as part of the temporary spectrum assignments, namely in 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands,” she said.
“5G speeds and latency will be the same as the current experience since we are deploying with the same frequency bands and same bandwidth as deployed with the temporary spectrum.”
She added that MTN expects more spectrum to be re-farmed to 5G over time as device support for 5G grows.
The mobile operator’s 5G network went live in South Africa in June 2020 and only covered limited areas in Gauteng, Western Cape, and the Free State upon launch.
It made 5G data plans, ranging from 75GB to 500GB, available to its customers and promised average speeds of 50Mbps for its 5G mobile products and 100Mbps for 5G home Wi-Fi subscribers.
The company announced that it had rolled out 5G coverage to large areas of Witbank and Polokwane in July 2021 as part of its R350-million network investment to upgrade and build new sites and transmission links in the 2021 financial year.
The upgrades were focused on the northern regions of South Africa, including the Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and North West provinces.
MTN South Africa provided a list of towns and metropolitan areas with 5G coverage. They are listed in the table below.
| Towns and metropolitans with MTN 5G coverage | ||
| City of Johannesburg
City of Cape Town Ekurhuleni eThekwini City of Tshwane Nelson Mandela Bay Mangaung Buffalo City Polokwane City of Mbombela Rustenburg The Msunduzi Emalahleni |
King Sabata Dalindyebo
City of Matlosana uMhlathuze Makhado Matjhabeng Newcastle Mogale City Ray Nkonyeni Govan Mbeki Mogalakwna Nyandeni Steve Tshwete KwaDukuza |
JB Marks
Sol Plaatje Abaqulusi Enoch Mgijima Msukaligwa Stellenbosch uMngeni Kouga Makana Ndlambe Masilonyana Thembelihle |
