MTN South Africa is making significant strides in its nationwide modernisation efforts, boasting a remarkable 98.33% daily network availability in Limpopo
According to Isaac Monama, MTN South Africa's acting regional general manager, the recently completed 2024 resilience plan is a key driver behind this success. The plan, finalised in the first quarter of 2024, prioritises equipping all sites with power backup systems like batteries or hybrid generators to mitigate network downtime during power outages and loadshedding events.
Monama highlighted the positive impact of the moderniwation rollout, citing improved throughput, reduced drop call rates, and increased data volumes across the region and South Africa as a whole.
“Overall network availability has improved by 27.18% since the start of the resilience programme compared with last year. Sites with resilience have a network availability of greater than 97% under stage 4 loadshedding,” noted Monama.
Limpopo network expansion progresses
Looking ahead, MTN aims to achieve a network availability of 96% during stage 6 loadshedding and over 99% during stage 2 loadshedding by the end of 2024. In terms of coverage expansion, 4G population coverage in Limpopo has reached an impressive 99.41%, with 56 5G sites activated in 2023 and plans to add another 60 in 2024.
“MTN is committed to expanding its network to underserved communities and aims to achieve 95% broadband coverage by 2025,” Monama highlighted.
Monama highlighted the successful connection of 11 rural sites in previously isolated villages, unlocking digital opportunities such as banking, education, and entertainment.
The initiative included villages such as Waterberg and Ka-Mushiyani in Greater Giyani region.
“We are working on building 12 new sites in Limpopo and enhancing 80 sites through modernisation, layer upgrades and sectorisation to further expand coverage in the province,” Monama said, noting that uncovered communities, predominantly rural and sparsely populated, are MTN’s key focus.
“I am pleased that we are making significant progress in closing these access gaps in the region.”
The positive outcomes are evident, with 4G download speeds in Limpopo averaging 10 Mb/s, meeting the goal of providing swift and dependable access to users.
