by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – VODACOM is investing R400 million (US$22 million) this financial year on its network in the Free State and Northern Cape provinces.
This is aimed at increasing capacity, resilience and accelerated access to connectivity throughout the provinces, particularly in rural areas.
The Free State and Northern Cape fall under Vodacom Central region.
The region spent R500 000 during the 2023/24 financial year and R340 million in 2022/23 on expanding broadband coverage across the region.
This is an investment totalling over R1 billion over three years and it is part of Vodacom’s long-term vision, to have the widest and reliable network accessible to all South Africans.
“We are investing heavily in the network in the Free State and Northern Cape in order to achieve our goal of building an inclusive digital society,” Vodacom stated.
“Our goal is to give our customers access to a superior network and we do this by adding new sites and upgrading our network. We intend to use this network rollout and deployment to help every community we serve to be part of the Digital Era and reap the rewards of digitalization.”
From this expenditure, R250 million will go towards projects for radio access network, R150 million to fund transmission which includes the roll out of microwave and fibre for network capacity and upgrades in the current financial year.
Vodacom Central’s 3G population coverage stands at 99 percent and 98,2 percent for 4G.
The region will be rolling out over 30 new deep rural sites across the provinces this financial year. In addition, the region will be rolling out more 5G sites.
– CAJ News