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Johannesburg - Dropped calls and sluggish data speeds in Cape Town have frustrated an MTN network user so much that he decided to do his own research on the company’s signal quality.
The Fin24 reader, who goes by the alias ‘MTNUSER’, has compared MTN’s signal coverage in Cape Town to that of Vodacom’s quality of network service in the same areas of the city.
“I am a businessman residing in Durban but travel countrywide and thus my cellphone becomes my most invaluable business tool. I am a blindly loyal MTN user but my past few trips to Cape Town have left me frustrated trying to get decent cell service,” he wrote to Fin24 in an email last week.
“Apart from the frequent dropped calls, the data speeds have been ridiculously inoperable.
“I then decided to do a little investigation of my own. I purchased a prepaid Vodacom SIM card, which I inserted into a colleague’s device, and then compared the reception and data connectivity,” he said.
The reader emailed Fin24 screenshots of what appears to show MTN lacking LTE and even 3G signal in areas where Vodacom has 3G or 4G signal quality.
MTN and Vodacom's signal quality compared at Somerset Mall in Cape Town. 
MTN and Vodacom's signal quality compared along Settlers Way in Cape Town.
MTN and Vodacom signals compared in Green Point, Cape Town.
MTN responds
Fin24 reached out to MTN regarding the reader’s complaints and the mobile network’s General Manager for Radio Planning and Optimisation, Krishna Chetty, responded.
“MTN has been investing in LTE technology throughout the country, focusing on Durban, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth,” Chetty told Fin24.
“Cape Town investment has been slower than expected and in early January, we rigorously embarked on an extensive network optimisation exercise that entailed integrating over 80 LTE sites.
“This has significantly improved the quality and coverage of its LTE network in the affected areas. MTN continuously audits its network and implements the requisite corrective interventions to ensure that its customers enjoy a seamless and world-class network experience.
“The results may differ depending on when the test was run,” Chetty said.LTE coverage lacking in SA
However, overall LTE or 4G coverage is lacking in South Africa owing to a frequency spectrum ‘crunch’.
Vodacom was the first mobile network to launch LTE services in South Africa in 2012, followed by MTN.
But operators such as Vodacom have publicly revealed how they are 're-farming' spectrum to roll-out LTE services.
Operators in South Africa do this because government has not moved on digital migration - a process that shifts television broadcasters off key ‘digital dividend’ frequencies in the 800 MHz range.
If digital migration happens successfully, then mobile operators will have access to these digital dividend frequencies and they will be in a position to roll-out LTE more comprehensively.
South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) revealed at its first 'lekgotla' meeting for 2015 that it intends to push the digital migration process along faster as an International Telecommunications Union deadline in June 2015 is fast-approaching.
In the meantime, LTE coverage in particular is not widespread with South Africa’s biggest mobile network Vodacom having publicly revealed last week that it has 2 000 LTE base stations in the country.
