by SAVIOUS KWINIKA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – MTN South Africa has placed the expansion of its fifth-generation (5G) network at the centre of aims to consolidate its position as the country’s best network provider, an accolade given it by some local industry watchers.
Responding to questions from CAJ News Africa, MTN South Africa Senior Manager for Nonvoice Channels Secondee, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Ronelle Cain, who said this rollout would be beneficial to consumers and enterprises.
“Our focus in 2025 is to continue investing in our network infrastructure and ensuring that communities benefit from a seamless and state-of-the-art network,” Ronelle said.
She highlighted that MTN’s 5G network currently covers over 44 percent of the country’s 64,5 million population, with ongoing investments to expand services for 5G adoption and private network deployments.
“MTN has made significant investments to enhance voice and data traffic capabilities nationally, though exact figures cannot be disclosed due to being in a closed period.” Can said.
She however said the investment strategy was guided by customer growth, coverage improvements and capacity demands.
“Our 5G network brings significant benefits within the context of AI and IoT (internet of things) by providing the high-speed connectivity, low latency, and vast device capacity required to power next-generation,” Cain said.
“With MTN’s 5G, businesses and industries can leverage AI-driven applications that require near-instantaneous data processing, such as autonomous vehicles, real-time surveillance, and smart city infrastructure.”
In a commitment to make 5G-enabled devices and connectivity affordable to customers available to South Africans, MTN launched the Icon 5G smartphone, which retails at R2, 499 (US$133).
“MTN’s strategy focuses on leveraging established infrastructure to support customer transitions to next-generation connectivity,” according to Cain.
Tied to the 5G prospects is to ensure MTN uses data-driven models to ensure nationwide distribution, addressing consumer and enterprise needs as the telecoms giant connects the unconnected, including villages, farms and small towns.
This is through MTN’s network resilience programme, completed last year, where the telco has been able to connect and improve the network in most areas.
In order to maintain its best network status, she highlighted that MTN monitored performance across technology, service and application layers.
“Tools, data analytics and AI models help prioritise areas needing capacity and quality enhancements, ensuring superior speeds and reliability for customers, startups, and businesses.”
MTN SA won all four quarters of Best Mobile Network accolade in South Africa for 2024.
– CAJ News