Vodacom Group has deployed a triple-band mobile radio unit that will enable Vodafone Egypt to reduce the cost of its 4G and 5G network deployment, energy consumption and tower load.

The advanced radio unit from Ericsson combines the 1 800 MHz, 2 100 frequency- division duplexing (FDD) and 2 600 time- division duplexing (TDD) frequency bands into one single radio unit.

“Combining three bands across FDD and TDD in a single radio unit is a milestone in simplifying the engineering, deployment and operation of our network,” says Vodacom group technology officer Dejan Kastelic.

“I am proud of the innovative work done by the team in Vodafone Egypt in driving Vodacom Group’s vision to build networks that are future-proofed, efficient and customer focused.”

Vodacom acquired a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt in 2022.

Over the last financial year, Vodacom invested R4.6-billion to expand and strengthen the network to support increased demand in the country where Vodafone Egypt has 48.3-million customers.

While Egypt has the second-largest online population in Africa, the country’s average Internet download speed is among the slowest in the world.

“Vodacom is committed to providing solutions that contribute towards Egypt’s priority national development ambitions, including the Digital Egypt strategy, which comprises numerous national projects to achieve digital transformation and upgrade digital infrastructure,” says Kastelic.

The deployment of the triple-band mobile radio unit, which Vodacom says is a world first, is highly relevant for Egypt’s current radio spectrum allocation and will enable Vodafone Egypt to extend the reach of 4G and 5G services to more customers in the country.

“We work relentlessly with all our technology partners to continuously enhance our mobile network leadership and provide world-class mobile service quality to our customers,” adds Vodafone Egypt technology director Catalin Buliga.

“This new triple-band radio unit from Ericsson gives us better cost, faster deployment of 4G and 5G services, less energy consumption for our mobile network and less tower load.”