South Africa - Networks geared up for traffic surge of the FIFA 2010 World Cup

[business day] WITH about four weeks left before the start of the Soccer World Cup, local mobile network operators have expressed their readiness to handle the traffic volumes expected during the event.

Over the past year, and more recently, mobile customers have experienced dropped calls, delayed SMS delivery and poor network availability, raising fears of the networks' ability to handle call and data volumes during the four-week event.

The operators were blamed for their delay in adding enough base stations and radio capacity over the years to compensate for the tremendous growth in mobile subscribers and cellphone usage.

There are more than 50-million active SIM cards.

The mobile operators - MTN, Cell C and Vodacom - have over the past year invested billions of rand to upgrade their networks to improve the quality.

MTN SA MD Karel Pienaar said the company had invested R7,1bn in upgrading its network and infrastructure ahead of the World Cup. "We have completed network coverage upgrades at all stadiums being used in the auspicious tournament. MTN experienced the highest ever traffic peaks in the December holidays and these were handled without any material impact," he said.

Vodacom said it had "invested significant time, resources and funds" to increase capacity in preparation for the World Cup in SA. "We've identified specific geographic locations (such as stadiums, fan parks, public viewing areas, highways, hotels) where we believe there will be a higher demand for network capacity."

Vodacom said it had deployed the latest technology, called the distributed antenna system, which was much more efficient at increasing capacity on demand, as and when required.

Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt said that Cell C had invested R2,1bn last year to upgrade and add new sites on its network.

He said the company did not know "what volumes increase to expect during the World Cup" but was confident there would not be dropped calls on its network.

Andre Wills, the MD of industry analysts company Africa Analysis, said many operators upgraded the network mainly to cater for the demand in mobile broadband. "In the bigger scheme of things, it's not the volume of calls but the general requirements to deal with the back-haul of mobile broadband.

"The big unknown variable is the number of people that require broadband services." Wills did not expect a significant shift in revenue and said whatever the companies made out of the World Cup would be marginal.

"It will be more of a branding opportunity as opposed to building revenue," he said.

Another analyst, who did not want to be named, said the operators would not want to "embarrass" SA, hence there was heavy investment, especially in and around the areas where there would be a lot of World Cup activity.

"We don't know what the volumes would be. But there is a lot of national pride that operators want to maintain," he said.

South Africa: Network Operators Prepared for Cup Traffic