MTN has extended LTE broadband technology to its contract and Top-Up customers, offering faster broadband speeds and a better Internet experience at no charge. LTE data networks provide mobile ultra-broadband Internet access.
According to Serame Taukobong, chief marketing officer at MTN, new customers just need to purchase a 128K LTE SIM card and subscribe to the free LTE VAS service while existing customers with an LTE capable device can also access LTE at no cost.
MTN SA went live with the commercial availability of LTE in the Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban regions in December 2012 and coverage extended to other major cities in South Africa by the end of the year.
The company has made significant investments preparing for the LTE rollout by modernising more than 1 600 base station sites and activating HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access) on close to 1 000 sites in 2012.
Most of the sites have been 10Mhz re-farmed, which will provide faster connection speeds than other local cellular service providers’ LTE offerings.
Re-farming of availability, in reality, is playing a key role in enabling cost-effective LTE network migration. By re-using existing 2G and 3G spectrum for LTE, MTN is able to extend the lifespan of its existing spectrum assets and reduce the amount of additional spectrum required by up to a third.
“MTN customers can now access broadband speeds of up to 70Mbps – in the palm of their hands,” Taukobong says. “The LTE packages for the prepaid markets are currently under development and MTN will announce their availability in due time.”
MTN has also introduced new data promotional package contracts.