Vodacom has launched commercial LTE services in South Africa. The service is initially available in Johannesburg, with other cities to follow in the near future. The LTE service will initially be accessible via approximately 70 base stations in Johannesburg. 

Operator started to test LTE network more than two years ago, and since then has been upgrading base stations and its fibre-optic transmission network in preparation for commercial LTE launch.

According to operator, ninety percent of its 3G base stations are 21.6 Mbps enabled, and almost 80% are 43.2 Mbps enabled. By the end of the year Vodacom aims to have 500 sites enabled for LTE.

Vodacom contract customers with LTE capable devices can activate the service now. LTE capable devices will be on sale in selected Vodacom outlets before the end of October, with priority going to existing Vodacom customers.