Vodacom 

Vodacom has like MTN also access to a huge cash pile, which they can and will use to hamper any competition coming from the likes of Cell C, Telkom or even MTN. 

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) is of the opinion that the biggest obstacle to Cell C and Telkom’s plans to push into the Mobile Broadband market will come in the form of Vodacom. Vodacom is for example already testing LTE (Long-term Evolution) which is a fourth generation Mobile Broadband technology. In fact, no less than a thousand of Vodacom’s base stations are already LTE-ready and it will only take a minor software upgrade for the LTE network to go live. It must however be said that Vodacom expects LTE only to be ready for commercial deployment in 2 years’ time. Despite this time frame, it’s clear that they are planning to meet Cell C and Telkom head on, since the Mobile Broadband networks of Cell C and Telkom are expecting to go live at more or less the same time.  

Even if Cell C succeeds, it seems like Vodacom will have the most advanced Mobile Broadband network in South Africa at the time. 

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) welcomes Cell C’s push into the Mobile Broadband market, despite various delays. We wish you the best of luck, something you’re surely going to need.