South Africa: The telecommunications operator MTN South Africa will invest $39 million to modernize its network infrastructure and deploy new ones in the Eastern Cape

Telecommunications operator MTN South Africa has announced that it will invest 624 million rand (39 million USD) to upgrade its network infrastructure and roll out new ones in the Eastern Cape province. The company wants to spend that money on improving network uptime, increasing data speeds and expanding the 5G footprint.

MTN plans to focus its investment on 491 towers as part of its network resiliency and optimization program. The company also plans to expand its 5G connectivity across the region, with another 18 5G sites planned for 2022. These sites will add to the current 94 5G sites. Part of the money will be spent on restoring vandalized network infrastructure.

This investment is part of the modernization program of its entire South African network (MONZA) of MTN SA. It comes about two weeks after the company announced a similar $51 million investment in the Western Cape province. The provinces of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal have also benefited from investments under the project since the beginning of the year. These various investments are in line with the objectives of deploying connectivity in rural areas of MTN, which aims to provide telecom services to the inhabitants of the most remote areas of South Africa in a context marked by constantly growing demand.

“While we have invested in improving data speeds and connections in the short term, this plan is part of a longer term perspective, ensuring resiliency, stability and quality while helping us to significantly expand our reach,” said Maria Soares van Niekerk, Managing Director of MTN South Africa Eastern Cape.