The festive season traditionally presents network operators with a unique set of challenges when it comes to ensuring reliable connectivity for customers. South African mobile operators have detailed the steps they are taking to avoid any technical glitches during the December break.

Tshepo Ramodibe, executive head, stakeholder & reputation management: corporate affairs at Vodacom emphasised the importance of the festive period.

"It is a peak period across all the economic sectors in South Africa, whether you are in retail, petroleum or telecoms and that is why we try to make sure that we appeal and resonate with customers. Right now we are processing about 300 million smses per month and you will have more of that in December-January period because everybody who gets a nice message wants to resend it to friends and family, which is why we have a slight delay. It is a good commercial period for us, although I cannot say that summer is the make or break for Vodacom. "

Ramodibe says the mobile operator has had to make significant investments in its network coverage because of a growing customer base.

"We've got about 12 million smart devices on our network and these are handsets, tablets and dongles. We've seen a lot more people get connected, about 2 million of that number are LTE devices so we are not seeing demand waning. Investment in our network is continuing and we want to increase the current 46% LTE coverage - although spectrum is always an issue. Ours is a proven track record of year-on-year investment on the network. On average we have invested seven billion every year. I know the guys in yellow spoke about investing ten billion that they are spending, but for us it is three years too late. Network coverage is about consistency."

Ramodibe also told ITWeb Africa that Vodacom's technology teams will remain on the job in order to ensure that there is efficiency in the network during the busy holidays.

"Capacity is another issue during peak periods which are often predictable. From a network operator perspective the biggest thing is that we need to have base stations connected to the core network, but one of our challenges has been getting site approvals. We've invested in making the network LTE/4G ready. Radio access renewal efforts have also been able to expand cell coverage. With tourist locations like Durban and Cape Town, the guys are looking at adding mobile base stations in specific locations to keep traffic down."

Additional capacity

MTN told ITWeb Africa through Krishna Chetty, general manager of radio planning and optimisation, that they also have engineers and technicians monitoring the network all day during the festive season in order to address any challenges that may come about.

"We have an extensive capacity upgrade program that is run every end-of-year so as to ensure additional capacity is added to holiday destination areas – this is part of our normal business continuity efforts."

Karin Fourie, executive head: communications at Cell C says they have increased investment in the network both in terms of coverage and capacity as a result of growth experienced over the last 18 months in particular.

"The significant investment has ensured that Cell C has sufficient capacity to cater for all its customers, including those that use the network over the festive season. In some of the popular holiday destinations, Cell C enhanced its 3G throughput to ensure data usage is of top quality and high-speed. Cell C has also launched LTE in various regions across the country, and moved forward its deployment of LTE in the Western Cape, well ahead of schedule, to cater for holidaymakers in the area."

Fourie also noted that the mobile operator has renegotiated its roaming agreement with its roaming partner to include 3G roaming, as well as voice in remote areas.

"Cell C aims to provide a top experience for its customers year-round, including the festive season. The network is monitored 24/7 and any network issues identified are addressed timeously by our network engineers."