Vodacom Group has created the first standards-based commercial 5G service Africa using the 3.5GHz spectrum. The service, which has been created in Lesotho, will initially offer fixed-wireless broadband to two enterprise clients.
The Group has also implemented the same standards-based 5G technology in South Africa. The 5G service offers speeds of over 700Mbps and latencies of below 10 milliseconds.
5G Technology
The first official 5G standard was created at the end of last year, a technology that will bring faster speeds, lower latency and the ability to connect more devices at once
Telecompaper reports: “Until such time as 3.5GHz spectrum becomes available to Vodacom South Africa, this network will not be available to its customers. Vodacom Lesotho has been assigned spectrum in the 3.5GHz band, enabling the launch of a commercial 5G service. Vodacom South Africa has been granted a temporary spectrum license of 100MHz in the 3.5GHz band to showcase the same 5G network capabilities.”
Vodacom Group has also installed 5G Active Antennae (Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output) which will offer “improved spectral efficiency and coverage, enabling increased network capacity.”
