Vodacom Group launches Africa’s first commercial 5G service
Vodacom Group has created Africa’s first standards-based commercial 5G service in Lesotho

Vodacom Group launches Africa’s first commercial 5G service

Vodacom Group has announced that it has created Africa’s first standards-based, commercial 5G service in Lesotho using 3.5GHz spectrum to initially deliver Fixed-Wireless Access broadband services to two enterprise customers.

The immediate benefit of 5G technology for Vodacom subscribers in Lesotho includes the quicker deployment of broadband services with fibre-like speeds, meaning that entrepreneurs, industry shapers and the government will be able to develop and incubate innovative applications to power Digital Transformation in the country.

Vodacom Group has also announced that it has deployed the same standards-based 5G technology in South Africa, with speeds more than 700 Mbps and latencies of less than 10 milliseconds. This will exceed 1Gbps as new software versions and devices become available.

Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Vodacom prides itself on being a market leader and we are extremely pleased to be first to deliver 5G services to customers in Africa. What we’ve accomplished in Lesotho is an example of what can be achieved in Africa, should the requisite spectrum also be made available.

“Vodacom will be able to make 5G services available to its customers in South Africa once requisite spectrum is assigned. Global technological advancements are evolving at a rapid pace and South Africa can’t afford to be left behind, particularly when we look at some of the potential use cases for 5G to support critical sectors of our society such as healthcare and education.”

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