VODACOM LAUNCHES 1ST COMMERCIAL 4G SERVICE IN SA

RNS Number : 3623O

Vodafone Group Plc

10 October 2012

 



10 October 2012

VODACOM LAUNCHES FIRST COMMERCIAL 4G SERVICE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Vodacom Group, a subsidiary of Vodafone, today launched the first commercial 4G LTE service in South Africa. The service will initially be accessible to customers via approximately 70 base stations in Johannesburg with other South African cities to follow in the near future.

Today's announcement follows similar launches by Vodafone in Germany and Portugal, enabling Vodacom to draw on their experience of offering commercial 4G services. Vodafone Germany had 193, 000 customers using the service in rural and urban areas at 30 June 2012, providing around 35% household coverage.

Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said: "Vodacom was the first network in South Africa to test 4G LTE more than two years ago, and since then we've been busy upgrading base stations and our fibre-optic transmission network in preparation for today. It is great to claim another South African first and even more pleasing that South Africa has joined an exclusive club with the fastest mobile connectivity on offer."

4G LTE represents a major improvement in mobile connectivity speeds and capacity. The Vodacom service has the potential to operate at more than double the speed of any existing mobile connection within the country and offers users jitter-free video, and almost instantaneous music and picture downloads.

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About Vodafone

Vodafone is one of the world's largest mobile communications companies by revenue with approximately 406 million customers in its controlled and jointly controlled markets as at 30 June 2012. Vodafone currently has equity interests in over 30 countries across five continents and more than 50 partner networks worldwide. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com.

 

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