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R200-million network upgrade for Cell C in Johannesburg

Johannesburg consumers who’ve been blasting Cell C for dropped calls, lack of connectivity, and other network problems, now have a glimmer of hope in the form of Cell C’s planned network upgrades.

The country’s third cellular operator announced today that it will roll out upgrades across Gauteng, with a total of 100 new sites planned to be added over the next three months. The first 19 of these will be online by the end of August. This will complement the network’s existing 959 sites in Johannesburg.

The sites referred to are base stations, or cellular broadcast towers, each of which is capable of handling a certain number of clients before service levels start degrading.

Cell C’s CEO Alan Knott-Craig explains that the network has seen a doubling of traffic in the past year, and the upgrades will both cater for additional growth as well as restoring quality.

The networks in Johannesburg and Pretoria have taken the most strain, according to the company. In addition to its new sites, 900 of the existing sites will be optimised for improved coverage and reduced interference, especially in high-density areas. These operations are expected to be finished by November of this year.

Another contributing factor to the problems reported by Cell C users is a network handover issue with Vodacom. Cell C has a roaming agreement with Vodacom, whereby its customers are handed over to Vodacom towers in areas where Cell C has no coverage. It says it is in discussions with Vodacom to implement a seamless handover – something that might go a long way to reducing the number of dropped calls, which a recent ICASA study has shown Cell C to prone to.

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