Staff Writer 29 September 2020

Gupta-linked companies that were used for kickbacks for state tenders donated R10 million to the ANC shortly before the 2014 elections, News24 reported.

What makes this report noteworthy to the IT community is that a large portion of the kickbacks paid to these companies came from Neotel, now known as Liquid Telecom SA.

Excerpt

Liquid Telecom responds

Liquid Telecom SA told MyBroadband that Tata Communications Limited, the former majority shareholders and manager of Neotel, launched an investigation into the matter.

“Tata appointed a South African law firm to conduct an independent investigation and an international law firm to assist in its review and deliberations on the Homix matter,” Liquid Telecom SA said.

Liquid Telecom SA would, however, not comment on the outcome on this investigation and whether Neotel paid kickbacks for the Transnet deals.

Instead, it said “the incident in question happened before Liquid Telecom acquired Neotel in 2017, and therefore we are unable to comment further”.

Read the article at:

https://tinyurl.com/y6a6y6kn

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Staff Writer 12 June 2020

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) licensed temporary spectrum to Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Rain, and Liquid Telecom in April.

The temporary spectrum is aimed at easing network congestion and help mobile operators to maintain the quality of their broadband services and lower the cost of access to consumers.

Five spectrum bands were made available for temporary assignment: 700MHz, 800MHz, 2,300MHz, 2,600MHz, and 3,500MHz.

This temporary free spectrum will be closed at the end of November and will be then be placed on auction in December 2020.

ICASA’s acting chairperson Keabetswe Modimoeng said ICASA will get “attractive offers” from bidding companies because they will have “experienced open spectrum” and will want to regain access.

Read more at: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/355821-temporary-spectrum-what-vodacom-mtn-telkom-and-rain-are-doing.html?source=newsletter

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Monday, 4 May 2020: Vodacom Press Release

Vodacom has switched on Africa’s first live 5G mobile network in three cities – Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town – with further rollouts planned to other parts of the country. This network will support both mobile and fixed wireless services and is currently available on twenty live 5G sites, 18 of which are in Gauteng and 2 in Cape Town. With immediate effect, Vodacom customers with 5G enabled devices, and within a 5G coverage area, are now able to access one of the fastest and most sophisticated network connections in Africa.

Vodacom was recently assigned temporary spectrum by ICASA for the duration of the national state of disaster, including 1 x 50 MHz in the 3.5 GHz band, which has been used to fast-track our 5G launch. It also makes Vodacom the first operator to activate temporary spectrum in South Africa. Vodacom and Liquid Telecom also concluded managed network services and national roaming agreements for a national 5G network in December 2019.

As a more efficient technology than its predecessors (such as 3G and 4G), the deployment of 5G will help Vodacom manage the 40% increase in mobile network traffic and the 250% increase in fixed traffic experienced during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group CEO, says: “Vodacom’s 5G launch in South Africa comes at an important time as it will help us improve our network efficiency during the COVID-19 national state of disaster. During this difficult and unprecedented period, we are proud to offer world class network technology to South Africa, and all of its associated benefits, as we provide an essential service to keep the country connected. This is largely due to the allocation of temporary spectrum by ICASA which has already mitigated the network congestion we have experienced since the start of the lockdown period.”

To read the full Vodacom Press Release https://www.vodacom.com/news-article.php?articleID=7485

Customers can sign up for a 5G fixed internet plan, which starts at R899 a month for 100GB anytime data and 100GB “night owl” data (between midnight and 05:00), and that includes a Nokia router. The most expensive plan costs R1,799 a month for 400GB anytime and 400GB “night owl” data, with a Huawei router.

For now, mobile users can get Vodacom’s 5G service if they have a LG V50 ThinQ, which will cost R13,499, or R699 a month over 24 months.

https://www.businessinsider.co.za/vodacom-mobile-operator-5g-network-temporary-spectrum-covid-19-2020-5

More on the topic:

Telecompaper https://www.telecompaper.com/news/vodacom-launches-first-live-5g-network-in-africa–1337121

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Article

Vodacom’s 5G deal with Liquid will entrench its dominance, Telkom warns

The post Vodacom’s 5G deal with Liquid will entrench its dominance, Telkom warns appeared first on EMFSA.

Posted on February 5, 2020

After a significant partnership last year that expanded its business, Vodacom Group Chief Executive Shameel Joosub announced on Tuesday (Feb. 4) that the company will collaborate with Liquid Telecom to bring 5G mobile services to South Africa.

Starting this year, the two companies will offer customers joint 5G mobile services. Mobile consumers in the country are frustrated by delays in the availability of the necessary, more robust infrastructure to allow much faster telecommunications than 4G networks.

“We expect to be able to launch 5G services in South Africa this year,” Vodacom’s Joosub said in a statement. “This is possible thanks to a recent roaming agreement with Liquid Telecom, as 5G spectrum is largely unassigned in South Africa.”

Vodacom previously launched a 5G mobile service in Lesotho, a smaller country on the continent. Joosub also revealed the company’s expansion Tanzania would be impeded because of a regulatory matter that caused 1.7 million customers to be disconnected. Those customers, he said, will be brought back into the network once they have submitted to a necessary biometric registration.

Read more at:

https://www.pymnts.com/news/international/2020/5g-services-to-come-to-s-africa-this-year-vodacom-says/

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Now Vodacom is in discussions with Rain and Liquid Telecom to enable it to launch 5G products in South Africa when commercial 5G routers become available. According to Rain this will happen in September 2019 with Rain’s public 5G launch. While no 5G smartphones exist in South Africa at present, a slew of devices supporting the technology have been announced at  the MWC 2019, including the Huawei Mate X, Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G, LG V50 ThinQ 5G and Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. Huawei has confirmed that the new MateX device will be coming to South Africa around the middle of 2019.

Liquid Telecom told MyBroadband that it continues to explore the best commercial models that will allow it to monetise its spectrum assets. When asked whether it is in discussions with Vodacom regarding its 5G spectrum, the company said it “can’t comment specifically on any developments in that space”.

Vodacom’s 5G plans

• Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)

  – This will enable higher speeds and higher capacities for both mobile and fixed-wireless type applications.

• Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (uRLLC)

  – This will enable applications which require mission critical control.

• Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)

  – This will enable even more M2M devices to be connected to the network.

Vodacom added that 5G can also be used as a substitute where fibre rollouts are not economical.

The question is – will there be sufficient investment available considering the state of Eskom? 5G needs a stable electric grid. Loadshedding has been stopped for now but there are no guarantees that these issue won’t resurface in the future.

References:

5G Status South Africa – March 2019

5G Requires a Stable Electricity Supply

https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/300280-vodacom-in-discussions-to-launch-5g-in-south-africa.html?source=newsletter

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