Cell C chief expertise officer Schalk Visser has mentioned the continued importation of legacy 2G units to be offered into the native market is a hindrance in the way in which of shutting down legacy networks in South Africa.
Chatting with journalists in Johannesburg on Tuesday, Visser mentioned Cell C is making ready its expertise stack to facilitate the migration to 4G, however that cell operators, communications regulator Icasa and cellphone retailers nonetheless have a lot work to do to get the proper of units within the palms of customers.
“We nonetheless get 2G-only units coming into the nation. That is the largest hindrance to getting migration to 4G carried out – and this is similar for everyone within the trade. This speaks to the regulator and the position they need to play to make the sunsetting of legacy applied sciences profitable,” mentioned Visser. And it’s not as if price is a matter anymore: 4G function telephones can be found in South Africa for as little as R199.
Cell C’s termination of legacy 2G and 3G applied sciences may even depend upon the readiness of its roaming companions, MTN and Vodacom, which Cell C depends on to supply providers.
Visser mentioned his precedence previously yr has been the development of Cell C’s multi-operator core community (Mocn) roaming system. Mocn roaming permits Cell C to create a digital illustration of its community on prime of both MTN or Vodacom’s infrastructure, giving customers an expertise akin to utilizing Cell C’s “native” community.
The digital layer on the MTN facet is accomplished, and Visser is aiming to finish the equal on Vodacom by March.
“It’s about ensuring we work intently with our infrastructure companions and align with them for the migration to succeed. We should additionally put the appropriate units within the palms of our clients by the opposite companions that we have now, like Pepkor,” mentioned Visser. Pepkor’s PEP Shops are a preferred retail venue for customers looking for low-cost handsets.
VoLTE
However 4G-capable units within the palms of customers are solely a part of the answer. In line with Icasa’s March 2023 State of the ICT Sector report, South Africa has greater than 11.5 million machine-to-machine connections that both use 2G or 3G connections. A few of this tools is in difficult-to-reach locations or embedded in automobiles and different units, that means that upgrading or changing the {hardware} is difficult – if not unimaginable.
Learn: Why South Africa could also be caught with 2G for longer
Crucial to Cell C’s migration from legacy 2G/3G applied sciences is the addition of voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) expertise to the Cell C ecosystem, a undertaking Visser is seeking to get carried out by mid-2025. VoLTE permits cell operators to make use of 4G to hold voice calls, that are historically carried over 2G and 3G networks, providing higher name high quality and consumer expertise.
Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes admitted that Cell C is reasonably “late to the get together” on VoLTE adoption. Opponents Vodacom, MTN and Telkom already provide it on their networks.
Cell C can also be behind in providing 5G. However Mendes mentioned the expertise has proved to be troublesome to monetise on cell. “However we do see a chance in fixed-wireless entry,” mentioned Mendes.
The advantages of 4G and 5G over 2G and 3G prolong past the consumer expertise.
For the operators, having a extra uniform community topology will result in extra environment friendly community administration. Newer applied sciences additionally have a tendency to make use of energy extra effectively than their legacy counterparts and, based on a report by the GSMA, power prices type the majority of community administration prices. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
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