TZANEEN: Better and faster data for Tzaneen residents

Faster data, services and an upgrade that will increase network capacity, provide improved voice quality and enhanced mobile data speeds in Tzaneen.

That is the answer and the good news to all in Tzaneen, questioning why pavements are dug up around every nook and cranny and about kilometers of cables are being installed.

14km of cables have been installed so far by MCT Telecommunications in Tzaneen.

Vodacom embarked on a major project to accelerate investment in its network across South Africa.

The program, called Project Spring, has over the past year alone resulted in Vodacom increasing the number of 3G sites by more than 20% to almost 9 000, and more than doubling the number of LTE ( Long Term Evolution) sites to 2 600.

This focus on network investment is continued into Vodacom’s 2015-2016 financial year, and resulted in more than R200 million being spent in the Limpopo region to expand coverage increase network capacity and speed.

‘I’m pleased to announce that more than R200 million has been earmarked for network investment in the Limpopo province in the current financial year. That’s an increase of more than 20% from last year, the bulk of which will be spent on adding new base stations and connecting sites with our own high-speed transmission,’ Chris Lazarus, Vodacom’s newly appointed Managing Executive for the Limpopo Region said.

‘This year we’re planning to add 185 3G sites and more than 50 LTE sites. On a practical basis, this means that we’ll be bringing faster data services to tens of thousands of people who currently only have voice services and EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) which is a faster version the Global System for Mobile (GSM) wireless service designed to deliver data at rates up to 384 Kbps and enable the delivery of multimedia and other broadband applications to mobile phone and computer users,’ he said.

On top of this, the upgrade will increase network capacity and provide improved voice quality and enhanced mobile data speeds in outlying areas such as Tzaneen, Grobelsdaal, Thabazimbi and Musina by the end of March 2016.

In addition to the major increase in investment in base stations, Vodacom the will also be ramping up investment in the core network.

‘The base stations are what we call the radio access network, and its key role is to connect to people’s mobile devices. The core network is more like the brain at the centre of Vodacom that is responsible for routing traffic and making sure that everything functions smoothly,’ said Lazarus.

To strengthen the core network, Vodacom will this year build a new Base Station Controller facility in Lephalale, resulting in improved voice and data services across the province. On top of this, Vodacom will also install fibre-optic transmission capacity in Mankweng, Thohoyandou, Lephalale and Grobelsdaal.

‘Our goal isn’t just to be the best network in Limpopo. We’re putting hundreds of millions of Rands into network investment this year in a bid to make sure that we get as many people as possible connected no matter where they are. It’s important that we invest in the rural areas as well as the cities to make sure that nobody gets left behind,’ says Lazarus.

What is EDGE?

EDGE (Enhanced Data GSM Environment) is a faster version the Global System for Mobile (GSM) wireless service designed to deliver data at rates up to 384 Kbps and enable the delivery of multimedia and other broadband applications to mobile phone and computer users. The EDGE standard is built on the existing GSM standard, using the same time-division multiple access (TDMA) frame structure and existing cell arrangements. Ericsson notes that its base stations can be updated with software.

What is GSM?

GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) is a digital mobile telephony system that is widely used in Europe and other parts of the world. GSM uses a variation of time division multiple access (TDMA) and is the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephony technologies (TDMA, GSM, and CDMA). GSM digitizes and compresses data, then sends it down a channel with two other streams of user data, each in its own time slot. It operates at either the 900 MHz or 1800 MHz frequency band.

What is a LTE site?

In telecommunication, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a standard for high-speed wireless communication for mobile phones and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/ HSPA technologies. … LTE is the upgrade path for carriers with both GSM/UMTS networks and CDMA2000 networks. Source: techtarget.com S