Vodacom South Africa Invests Over 500 Million Rand to Upgrade Western Cape Mobile Network

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On October 6, Vodacom Western Cape announced its network infrastructure investment plan for the current fiscal year, committing over 500 million rand in the Western Cape province of South Africa for mobile network expansion, radio access network modernization, new site construction, and power resilience projects. Of this, approximately 380 million rand will be allocated to RAN modernization, with more than 50 sites to be upgraded or replaced with next-generation cellular network equipment.

This round of RAN transformation covers hardware, software, and network architecture upgrades. The new equipment will support higher-level 5G capabilities while expanding site capacity and reducing energy consumption. Vodacom will also deploy 700MHz spectrum at more than 50 sites for 4G capacity expansion, leveraging the characteristics of low-band spectrum—longer coverage distance and stronger building penetration—to enhance mobile broadband services in urban and underserved areas.

5G deployment will continue to expand to key towns and densely populated areas in the Western Cape, with new coverage involving areas such as Khayelitsha, Delft, Gugulethu, Langa, Mitchells Plain, and Philippi. The expansion will target both mobile users and fixed wireless access users, with a focus on improving data rates, latency, and network capacity in high-traffic areas.

In addition to wireless network construction, the remaining capital expenditure will be invested in network energy resilience projects, including adding fixed generators and implementing battery system modernization to address localized load shedding, cable theft, municipal infrastructure failures, and power supply interruptions during maintenance. These projects continue Vodacom's backup power upgrade and network power optimization plans from the previous fiscal year.

Mobile data usage in the Western Cape region has grown by more than 40% over the past year. This fiscal year's network investment will simultaneously advance new 5G site construction, modernization of existing sites, 700MHz low-band 4G expansion, and backup energy facility upgrades, forming a synchronized upgrade of wireless coverage, network capacity, and site power supply capabilities.