Vodacom has become the first African mobile network to exceed 80% population coverage on 4G. Vodacom now provides 80.12% 4G coverage in South Africa, with 99.78% of the population covered by 3G and 99.97% covered by 2G.
What is particularly impressive is the network’s accelerated rural coverage programme. The program was outlined in June 2017 and has been a “significant” contributor to reaching the 80%
The network says it invested R39.69 billion in its South African network over the last five years. Chief Technology Officer Andries Delport also explained that the new sub 1GHz spectrum will enable “more cost-effective rollout” of 4G.
While we are always delighted when we are able to pick up 4G service in an area, the large majority of South Africans are left unable to utilise the speeds due to the excessive cost of data. The #DataMustFall campaign has been going on for almost two years now.
Progress is slowly being made but it’s still nowhere near as affordable as data is in some other African countries. In January, South Africans were left furious after it was revealed that Vodacom makes R2 billion rand per month from data.
The network was also keen to stress that the overall effective price it charged per megabyte was down just under 25% in the quarter. The network says the money it makes is focussed on enhancing the quality of coverage across the country.
While Vodacom may not be perfect, they do seem to offer the best service when you take into consideration their prices together with the consistency of their signal.
Source: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/vodacom-network-80-4g-coverage-sa/