CASE STUDY the rest of the company and the agility to deal with strategic and operational items at the same time .
Which telecoms equipment vendors is MTN South Africa working with to rollout its 5G network ?
The MTN network architecture is based on state-of-art elements from the top technology providers Huawei , Ericsson , ZTE and Cisco .
Talk us through what the rollout of 5G will mean for MTN customers and what sort of services can they expect from your company that they are currently not getting ?
In June this year MTN launched 5G in various cities across the country , for MTN we believe that this is the first step towards our digital revolution with the next generation of telecommunications technology , demonstrating to all South Africans that 5G is no longer just an idea – it is here , it works and it has the capacity to bring about exponential improvements to our economy and to the lives of the people we serve . The launch came on the back of government ’ s allocation of temporary spectrum but is also the culmination of extensive 5G trials and testing that we have been conducting over the last two years .
What impact will the rollout of 5G networks across South Africa have on MTN ’ s Digital Transformation journey ? has been years in the making and we are confident that we have built a strong foundation to grow and support our 5G ecosystem to deliver an exceptional
experience for our customers .
How is MTN South Africa preparing for 5G rollout when ICASA auction 5G spectrum in March 2021 ?
One of the key innovations driving the broad rollout by MTN has been a strategic approach to Dynamic Spectrum Sharing ( DSS ), as these deployments overcome the challenges of lack of dedicated 5G spectrum . MTN has delivered 5G connectivity on four different spectral bands namely :
• 3.5 GHz at more than 100 sites : This is the ideal spectrum band for 5G , known as the “ Golden Band ” which offers a truly world-class 5G experience with both faster speeds and low latencies . MTN has deployed sites in the 3.5 GHz band in Johannesburg , Cape Town and Bloemfontein .
We are also proud to deploy 5G at selected MTN stores in the 5G clusters where we have deployed 5G . Due to the frequencies these 5G technologies operate in , indoor penetration is constrained and now customers can experience 5G at flagship MTN stores .
• 2100MHz and 1800MHz : MTN SA is introducing the re-farming of some 4G spectrum to allow us to run 4G and 5G spectrum , at the same time , in the same band .
For the past two years we have been actively innovating around the potential of 5G , using different bands and various vendors and across different platforms and devices , to ensure MTN South Africa can maintain leadership in 5G . Our 5G strategy
This allows for easier migration of network technology from LTE to 5G . It also allows us to deploy 5G using existing spectrum assets in the absence of additional high demand spectrum . MTN has deployed 5G sites on 2100MHz in Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth . p
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