Vodacom launches 5G internet service in Lesotho
South Africa's Vodacom launched what it said was Africa’s first commercial 5G internet service in Lesotho on Saturday, but said it would only be able to provide a similar service in its home market once spectrum was made available.
Vodacom, South Africa's biggest mobile operator by market value, said the rollout of the 5G, or fifth generation, standards-based service would provide subscribers in the land-locked mountain kingdom with "fibre-like" internet speeds.
The company said its operation in Lesotho, a country of around two million people, had been assigned spectrum in the 3.5GHz band, enabling the launch of a commercial 5G service.
"What we’ve accomplished in Lesotho is an example of what can be achieved in Africa, should the requisite spectrum also be made available," Vodacom Group Chief Executive Officer Shameel Joosub said in a statement.
Vodacom, majority owned by Britain's Vodafone, added that until the 3.5GHz spectrum, considered optimal for 5G network deployments, becomes available to Vodacom South Africa, the service would not be available to its customers in Africa's most industrialised economy.
In March, South Africa's telecommunications ministry said the much-delayed allocation of radio frequency spectrum would happen in the first quarter of 2019.
The delays, mainly due to wrangling between government departments, have seen South Africa lag behind much less industrialised and prosperous economies on the continent in mobile technology.
5G networks, which are still at an early stage, will offer data speeds up to 50 or 100 times faster than current 4G networks and serve as critical infrastructure for a range of industries.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
At SMS group, we have made it our mission to create a carbon-neutral and sustainable metals industry.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Goodwin Submersible Pumps Africa is sole distributors for Goodwin electrically driven, submersible, abrasion resistance slurry pumps.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
