Vodacom plans for 6-month emergency scenario as it bolsters data capacity to deal with lockdown surge – Andries Delport

As more South Africans are working from and spending all their leisure time at home, they are accessing social media websites like Facebook and YouTube, and watching Netflix more often. This has led to a surge in network data traffic for cellular phone companies. For Vodacom, there was also added traffic as it cut data prices by up to 40% on some of its data bundles. To cope with the increased demand for data, the company has announced that it is going to increase network capacity. Vodacom has also applied to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa for temporary additional spectrum. ICASA indicated earlier this month that a temporary release to the sector will last for the duration of the national state of emergency. Chief Technical Officer Andries Delport told Biznews publisher Alec Hogg that Vodacom was planning for an emergency scenario of six months. – Linda van Tilburg