Vodacom retrofits mobile base stations to shipping container shops
Telecommunications giant Vodacom on Wednesday said it is testing the viability of retrofitting a compact base station to the roof of existing shipping container shops to supply mobile coverage to townships.
Starting in the Alexandra township, in Gauteng, Vodacom would deploy five sites, providing mobile coverage over a radius of up to 1.5 km and servicing 5 000 subscribers at peak times, as an initial test.
The increasing availability of low-cost devices had stimulated data use leading to traffic volume growth in townships surpassing that of the average growth rate countrywide and placing additional strain on the mobile networks, said Vodacom CTO Andries Delport in a statement on Wednesday.
“We are seeing data volumes in Gauteng’s townships almost doubling year-on-year, which is well ahead of the average growth rate countrywide,” he commented.
However, high population density and insufficient infrastructure had hampered efforts to increase coverage services in the townships.
Now, the “repackaged” base station equipment would be installed within a compact steel structure and bolted to existing shipping container shops within weeks, a significant reduction on the 12- to 18-month lead time to build new base stations.
The test base stations would host a smaller 9 m2 footprint, compared with the standard 30 m2 and, as it used existing infrastructure, would be more energy efficient and cost less than half the R1.5-million needed to build a traditional site.
“This solution is not just about mobile coverage. The shops located in containers typically sell airtime, m-pesa and telephone services. With a base station located on their roof, we will support the shop with an additional source of income and they, in turn, provide us with added site security. It makes us part of the community,” Delport concluded.
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