Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos has hinted at a possible commercial launch of Long Term Evolution (LTE) for the group.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the MyBroadband 2014 conference in Midrand on Tuesday (30 September), Dos Santos said that Cell C would make an announcement on its LTE plans in the next two weeks.<\/p>\n
The group talked up its LTE plans as far back as 2012, and said that it would have 1,000 sites ready by the end of 2013, having run a number of trials in big cities including Joburg and Cape Town.<\/p>\n
However, it said it would not roll out LTE on a national scale until there was more clarity regarding government\u2019s broadband plans.<\/p>\n
“Cell C would like to see the formation of a consortium consisting of both private and government entities that will be enabled to roll-out a national LTE network, using the spectrum that becomes available when broadcasters switch from analogue to digital,” it has said previously.<\/p>\n
Currently, LTE networks in South Africa are only used to carry data, and devices typically fall back to a carrier\u2019s HSPA or 2G network to make and receive calls.<\/p>\n
Last week, Vodacom announced that it successfully installed 4G\u00a0equipment at every site across the country \u2013 enabling\u00a0its whole network to now be 4G capable.<\/p>\n
Vodacom provided the following details on the number of sites currently offering 2G, 3G, and LTE services:<\/p>\n
Similarly, Telkom announced Tuesday,\u00a0 that it will launch 4G Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) in 50 suburbs, beginning December.<\/p>\n
LTE Advanced is a cellular networking standard that offers higher throughput than its predecessor, LTE standard.<\/p>\n
Dos Santos also hinted at more price cuts for its customers to include calls and data.<\/p>\n
He said that the group would make a formal announcement on Friday, with adverts set to run in national newspapers on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Whole Vodacom network now 4G ready<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Cell C: 1000 LTE sites in 2013<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n