South Africa's third-largest mobile operator Cell C will invest R8-billion over the next three years to roll out long-term evolution (LTE) infrastructure for targeted customers across the country.

Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos noted in a statement on Thursday that the company would focus on targeting metropolitan areas, while the primary commuting areas that fell outside the major metros would remain covered by evolved high-speed packet access (HSPA+).

Cell C has signed supply agreements with its primary LTE partners, Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE, to roll out more than 4 000 LTE sites.

The first targeted areas for the roll-out will be in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.

Dos Santos stated that gated communities and high-density residential areas with a large demand for high-speed data would be priority areas.

In a phased approach, Cell C will upgrade sites, starting in the central Gauteng areas of Rosebank and Sandton, across the northern Johannesburg areas.

This will be followed by the northern Gauteng areas, including Pretoria and Centurion and, finally, the eastern and western parts of Gauteng, including Benoni, Boksburg, Johannesburg proper, Soweto, Lenasia and Roodepoort.

“We have a comprehensive plan and strategic reasoning behind the specific tower roll-out route we have chosen and are working tirelessly to ensure that every LTE site is linked to our fibre backbone to provide the highest level of quality and speed to our customers,” said Dos Santos.

In KwaZulu-Natal, Cell C will begin the roll-out from Hillcrest to the Dolphin Coast and Umhlanga.

This will be followed by connecting the surrounding areas in Durban, such as Chatsworth and Durban South and, thereafter, Pietermaritzburg, Umlazi and surrounding areas.

The roll-out in the Western Cape will start from Sea Point to Durbanville, the airport and Stellenbosch.

Simon’s Town through Constantia to Brakenfell and Somerset West will be included in the second wave and Mitchells Plain and Paarl at a later stage.

“These are just some of the areas that will be covered by LTE over the next three years, [with the roll-out to include areas in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and other provinces], and details of these roll-outs will be unveiled at a later stage,” added Dos Santos.

Full coverage maps will be available in future and will be updated closer to commercial launch.

Dos Santos said the LTE roll-out will complement Cell C’s continued investment into its existing network and the roll-out of additional towers to improve HSPA+ performance and increase coverage and capacity across the country.

Meanwhile, an additional 1 353 3G sites are planned across the country over the next few years and further projects are also under way in various provinces to enhance network quality and stability following the successes the company experienced in the Gauteng improvement projects.

“We have worked hard to ensure the best possible quality and service experience for our customers and we will continue to put quality at the top of the agenda. We are excited to now be able to add LTE to our roadmap,” Dos Santos stated.

Cell C plans to launch a commercial offering in the latter part of 2015 and will reveal its LTE suite of products and services in future.