MTN pilots LTE at AfricaCom

MTN, in conjunction with Ericsson have connected Cape Town to their pilot Long Term Evolution (LTE) network at this year’s AfriCom conference.

MTN has reaffirmed its leadership position in the network segment in South Africa when it piloted the first ever Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in Cape Town at the 2011 AfricaCom conference.

AfricaCom is the continent’s largest annual telecommunications conference, attracting over 5 000 delegates from across the world.

The pilot of MTN’s LTE network resonates with the theme of this year’s conference: Advancing Innovation and Profitability for a Digital Africa.

It is the first time that the Mother City has been connected to this new generation network that MTN is piloting in conjunction with Ericsson.

The deployment of the LTE network at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Cape Town follows hot on the heels of a large scale LTE pilot covering over 100 sites in Gauteng.

Says Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, MTN South Africa Chief Technology Officer: ‚MTN has been delighted by the phenomenal feedback received from our stakeholders since the Gauteng pilot kicked off in July this year, and it was only natural that a big metropolitan city such as Cape Town should enjoy the benefits of this new generation network. What better way could MTN demonstrate the benefit of this new technology than at AfricaCom where there is a captive audience.

‚MTN’s technical team and partners have been working at full throttle to ensure that we have the technology on the ground for the duration of AfricaCom. We are confident that the pilot in Cape Town will elevate customer experience in the Mother City and give our stakeholders an invaluable opportunity to optimally tap into future services and applications that the LTE ecosystem is expected to provide.‚

The LTE network will only be available at the ICC for the duration of AfricaCom between 9 and 10 November. MTN expects to commercially roll out this new generation network nationally within the next two to three years once the regulator allocates the required spectrum.

MTN refarmed 1800 GHZ sites in Cape Town and ensured that its 3G data network is LTE compliant.