In November, HumanIPO reported Cell C had launched two LTE sites in Sandton, Johannesburg, which formed part of the network operator’s first phase of planned countrywide trials.
In addition, Alan Knott-Craig Snr, Chief Executive of Cell C, said at AfricaCom 2012, in Cape Town, last month the South African government should facilitate the foundation of a singular unified telecoms network.
In a public statement yesterday, the network operator said: “Cell C would like to see the formation of a consortium consisting of both private and government entities that will be enabled to roll out a national LTE network, using the spectrum that becomes available when broadcasters switch from analogue to digital.”
Cell C selected a group of heavy data customers yesterday (Wednesday) who are within coverage areas to form part of Cell C’s free trial. A Huawei LTE dongle and 100 gigabytes of data will be supplied to the selected customers for a limited time to test the service.
Before the end of the year, Cell C will have more than 60 sites with more to follow into the new year.
“While coverage is limited for the time being, we are excited to bring high-speeds to our selected trial customers. Once we have feedback on the service from these customers, we will expand the service to other customers,” said Knott-Craig.
