by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – MTN South Africa has achieved a network availability score of 98 percent and modernised more than 400 sites, with an additional 25 percent of sites planned during the final months of the year.
Its 5G coverage has increased to 44 percent whereas it was at 35 percent at the start of the year.
More than 1060 sites have had LTE deployed to date.
This year has seen the deployment of 145 new base stations, the modernisation of more than 400 sites and capacity upgrades to more than 1 000 sites.
MTN has also concluded the 5G 2024 deployment programme scope and has deployed 5G on more than 900 sites in 2024.
“We are continuously monitoring and optimising our network to meet customer needs for quality and service availability,” said MTN SA’s Executive for Network, Rami Farah.
“This level of resilience means that we can maintain our high standards of reliability and quality regardless of any challenges that otherwise may have caused downtime.”
However, vandalism and theft at network sites remain challenging.
Over the past quarter, 2 000 incidents of vandalism and theft were reported across MTN sites nationally.
The most affected regions included the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Northern region and Gauteng, where heightened criminal activity targets critical infrastructure like batteries, generators, and copper cables.
Farah said the operator was working with law enforcement and implementing additional security measures, to combat these challenges.
“Our commitment is to safeguard our infrastructure and ensure that our customers continue to receive uninterrupted service,” Farah said.
– CAJ News