South Africa’s third mobile operator Cell C plans to have about 30% of the country’s population covered by its new network, dubbed 4G^s, by the end of this year, CEO Lars Reichelt said on Wednesday.

The operator is spending R5-billion in 2010 on rolling out its 4G^s network, which makes use of evolved high-speed packet access (HSPA+) in the 900-MHz and 2 100-MHz frequency bands.

Reichelt added that billions more would be spent on the further roll out of the network in 2011.

He explained that the 4G^s stood for ‘4 Great Speed and 4 Great Service’, and not, as such, a fourth-generation network, which was an as yet unratified standard.

However, Cell C did believe its network delivered services beyond that of a third-generation network.

The operator was rolling out HSPA+ throughout its entire network, which would be a full Internet Protocol (IP) network, offering speeds of up to 21,6 Mb/s.

Reichelt explained that a single HSPA+ 900-MHz transmitter could cover a three to five times larger area than Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) 2 100-MHz sites; while the HSPA+ 900-MHz transmitter also allowed for between 10 dB and 20 dB more gain, when indoors, than UMTS 2 100 MHz.

The HSPA+ 900 MHz would deliver area coverage, and combined with the HSPA+ 2 100 MHz would provide for greater capacity.

This would enable the operator to provide coverage in areas where it was previously deemed economically not viable, as well as reducing the operator's capital expenditure and operational expenditure.

About 1 300 base stations had already been converted to the HSPA+ 900-MHz frequency band, while fibre backbone and IP access has been secured.

Submarine fibre-optic cable system operator Seacom would supply the broadband fibre connectivity, while a second backup fibre system had also been secured.

Cell C was looking into building its own fibre backhaul capacity in the long run, but has, in the interim, secured sufficient fibre capacity, said Reichelt.

These 1 300 base stations were located in six major cities, where user trials were currently under way.

Reichelt noted that Cell C would launch the new network on a city-by-city basis, learning from the experience and potential problem areas as it goes along.

It would make an announcement on the first city launch in the coming weeks.

The operator would eventually have about 5 200 base stations on the new network.

Meanwhile, Cell C also on Wednesday announced a rebranded look and the appointment of comedian Trevor Noah as its customer experience officer.

Cell C responded with full-page advertisements in major newspapers apologising to Noah, and other customers for its poor service.

This followed after a video clip, in which Noah criticised local mobile operators for their bad service, gained huge popularity on YouTube.

Customers would now be given the opportunity to tell Noah, through a website and an SMS line, what bothers and annoys them about Cell C’s service.

Reichelt emphasised that Noah would not work for the operator, but rather with Cell C, to ensure that the public had an arbitrator through which they could inform the operator of problems experienced on its network.

This was part of Cell C’s new focus to put the customer at the centre of its new brand.

Reichelt said that the operator was aiming to ensure that customers could start seeing improvements in its service over the next three to four months.

However, he added that Cell C would not make promises that everything would be perfect in the next 12 months. It would aim to continue improving its service as it continues to operate.

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