More than 50% of the world's population still lack internet access. But, in South Africa, mobile subscription penetration has already passed the 100% mark and the country first introduced 4G LTE back in 2012.

Despite this early start, an October, 2015 report on the Mobile Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, issued by GSMA, the global association representing mobile operators, noted: "In the technology-leading markets such as Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe, 4G will account for around one fifth of total connections by 2020." That being said, the GSMA also forecast that: "South Africa will account for more than half of new 4G connections over the next five years, reflecting an established 4G ecosystem and continued investment in infrastructure rollout by operators."

While LTE network coverage and subscriptions will continue to grow, LTE is not the only mobile broadband option available to unlock internet access for the more than 50% of South African households that still go without, according to May, 2015 data from StatsSA,.

3G technology, known as WCDMA (for Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access) is another, complementary option. According to the GSMA report, the principal drivers of 3G uptake are the fact that network coverage is expanding, device prices are falling, and the technology is still being launched in new markets.

So, how can mobile operators leverage the reach, maturity and increasing affordability of today's 3G technology to deliver mobile broadband for everyone, while continuing to invest in their LTE rollouts? And, of course, how can operators increase this mobile broadband access and coverage cost-efficiently in an era when mobile broadband demand is growing at a faster rate than associated revenues.

It boils down to three key focus areas: optimising the performance of the current mobile network infrastructure; efficiently scaling these improvements throughout the network; and looking for innovative ways to expand mobile broadband coverage by leveraging existing assets.

To optimise network performance in a WCDMA coverage area, so that it can satisfy demand from a growing number of smartphone users, mobile operators can use an approach called "flow of users".

Essentially, this amounts to organising the flow of network traffic to optimise the balance between overall user count and individual user experience, through a combination of software features and network settings enabled on the current network infrastructure.

Zero-touch

Efficiently enabling these performance improvements throughout the network then becomes a case of industrialising the flow of users approach, and applying it to cell sites throughout the network. By doing this, the network becomes self-optimising, introducing a "zero touch" period into the network.

This zero touch period minimises the requirements for the operator to configure and tune the network, thereby reducing associated operating costs, while still realising optimal network performance and user experience.

Having upped the network performance and efficiency to address more users in a given 3G coverage area, the next logical step is to look at ways to expand that mobile broadband coverage footprint.

In 2014, population coverage of WCMDA/HSPA networks in Sub-Saharan Africa was just above 25%, compared to global population coverage of around 65%. On the other hand, coverage of GSM networks – which support basic mobile telephony services such as voice, SMS and low-speed data – sits at around 70%.

Today, there are hundreds of thousands of legacy GSM sites worldwide. Multi-standard mobile networks and software-enabled upgrades have already lowered the mobile broadband introduction threshold on legacy GSM sites.

Now, a new concept, called Intelligent Antenna Sharing, enables operators to re-use their existing GSM installed base equipment for WCDMA. So, operators re-farming all or part of their GSM spectrum for WCDMA can re-use their antennas, site power, transport and microwave to achieve up to 60% savings in their total cost of ownership compared to building a conventional 3G site.

LTE networks will continue to roll out in South Africa, and across the continent, and LTE technology will evolve to become part of future 5G networks. But, by optimising the performance, efficiency and reach of their 3G mobile broadband coverage in areas where LTE is not available, operators can complement their LTE rollouts with WCDMA to bring mobile broadband to everyone.

* By Henrik Linnet, Head of Practice, Mobile Broadband, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa.