Two of Africa’s biggest operators – Vodacom and MTN – have, coincidentally, announced technology deployment firsts for the continent in the past few days – one involving MIMO, the other involving 5-band RRU commercial deployment.
Vodacom South Africa says it has marked the start of the next wave of network modernisation with the successful deployment of a dual-band massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) radio in Cape Town, a first on African soil.
The deployment of these radios in the network means Vodacom can broadcast all its recently acquired time division duplexing (TDD) spectrum from a single device.
Compared to traditional deployments that use separate radio units, the new dual-band massive MIMO radio integrates two spectrum bands – n78 (3.5GHz) and B41 (2.6GHz) – into a single compact unit. This unlocks several benefits including the ability for Vodacom to deliver its LTE and 5G services in a way that optimises both spectrum and energy use. It also ensures a smooth user experience across technologies, and a reduction in installation and maintenance complexity as well as allowing Vodacom to continue to reduce its cost base while accelerating rollouts.
Meanwhile, MTN and technology giant ZTE have announced a continent and world first, the successful commercial deployment of a 5-band remote radio unit (RRU), achieved in South Africa's Western Cape Province.
With increasing demand for multi-band and multi-module services, network operators face mounting challenges such as power consumption, tower load and limited space, all of which can hinder the evolution of mobile networks. Huawei and MTN point out that the recent deployment of MTN's 5-band RRU directly addresses these issues, improving network performance, enhancing energy efficiency, and simplifying deployment processes, in turn enabling faster and more sustainable expansion of next-generation connectivity.
The 5-band RRU, powered by ZTE's in-house design chipset, integrates all MTN South Africa's low and mid bands (FDD) into a single compact unit. This integration reduces the number of RAN radio frequency modules on towers by 50%, decreases equipment weight by 23%, and minimises wind resistance by 18%. These optimisations streamline site construction, reduce deployment complexity, and free up valuable space on towers.
In addition, ZTE's innovative Super-N amplifier architecture utilizes dense arrays of power amplifiers with on-demand activation capability. It overcomes the efficiency bottleneck of traditional Doherty architecture (a power amplifier design used to transmit complex, high-power signals) and maintains high efficiency under varying loads, achieving a remarkable 42.7% reduction in overall site power consumption and a 45.8% improvement in energy efficiency (Wh/GB).
