MTN the First African Service Provider to Reach 1000 5G Sites in the Continent
Staying connected helps our world function better. Whether by helping healthcare workers respond to an emergency to save a life, communicating important news – as we saw every day during the Covid-19 crisis – or just staying in touch with family and friends, keeping connected is an integral part of our lives. It is then imperative that advances in networks, digital solutions and infrastructure keeps pace with demand and reach more underserved areas to break down barriers to entry to a better life.
According to the GSMA’s State of the Industry 2022 report, more than 200 million people connected to mobile internet for the first time in 2021, with 53% of the global population in total now connected. But only 28% in Sub-Saharan Africa have mobile internet access. This has to change.
It was no surprise that the International Telecommunication Union and UNICEF called for urgent investment to bridge the digital divide currently preventing children and young people from accessing quality digital learning and opportunities online. Their joint research has found that two thirds of the world’s school-age children – or 1.3 billion children aged three to 17 years old – do not have internet connection in their homes.
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It is imperative that these children get online, or they will be left behind. Going digital is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity; and the only way to address the barriers to inclusion to a healthy, wealthier and more educated life – whether it is access to finance, commerce, education or any aspect of the modern, digital world.
MTN South Africa understands the urgency and is embarking on a major network modernisation and expansion drive to improve both coverage and reach. While accelerating and improving access through 5G is one critical leg, our aim throughout is to significantly enhance access broadly and open the door to new digital opportunities for many more people across all provinces. Closing digital gaps and bringing the benefits of the modern, digital world to more people is our main drive. The future will be exceedingly stark if this does not happen more quickly.
MTN’s countrywide Modernisation of Network South Africa project (MONZA), around 70% of which has already been completed nationally, will see an additional 1,350 sites set to be finalised during the year, and around 200 top areas covered across SA.
We have finalised our 5G roll-out plan and are making significant progress – we have activated roughly 1500 5G sites nation-wide, with 100% of our 5G scope concluded by the end of April. It was extremely pleasing that we were the first 5G mobile broadband service provider to reach over 1,000 sites on the African continent. Based on recent benchmarks in Gauteng we are first with subscribers and growing very fast – growth is up 44 times in the past year and traffic is 79 times higher than it was a year ago.
To enable this traffic growth, and get more South Africans connected, we have expanded our network capacity while also upgrading our core network. The increase in power consumption due to traffic growth, however, will need to be managed and we are adopting measures to limit the impact on costs and emissions, while ensuring holistic operational monitoring of sales and customer support processes.
For MTN SA’s, our rural rollout aims to bring network and connectivity services to people in the most remote rural settlements of South Africa, and we aim to have over 100 rural deployments nationally in highly underserved areas by the end of 2022.
Improving access, enhancing connectivity and providing a quality network remains our top priority, as this will open the door to the myriad growth opportunities on our doorstep – for individuals, businesses and the SA economy – as we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We also know we cannot do it alone and will continue to work closely with all industry representatives, stakeholders and communities to ensure we reach our goals for 2022 and keep delivering a superior, reliable network experience to all South Africans.
Statement by MTN
