Network Capacity Increased in Time for UN Conference

South Africa's MTN is boosting capacity on its network to ensure that uninterrupted cellular services are available to both regular subscribers and visitors during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August and September. Many of the network upgrades will remain in place after the Summit, resulting in a permanent capacity increase in some areas like the fast-growing Sandton CBD. Up to 65 000 delegates could visit Gauteng for the Summit.

The Sandton Convention Centre (SCC), which will be the UN precinct for heads of state, will receive a dedicated, permanent base station of its own with capacity for up to 6000 people. The SCC is currently serviced by two exterior base stations nearby which are also being upgraded to provide additional capacity.

Capacity at Wanderers, which is not expected to remain a high traffic area after the Summit, will be boosted with two mobile base stations. Five existing sites are being upgraded to cope with increased traffic. Wanderers will have capacity for up to 20 000 people during the Summit. Johannesburg International Airport currently has five sites which are being upgraded and additional capacity will be added if organisers' projections indicate the need. In addition to upgrades that will be completed before the Summit, MTN is also equipped to carry out on-the-spot upgrades if additional capacity is needed during the Summit.

"Our network service centre in Sandton is a 24-hour operation. Network performance and traffic volume trends are monitored hourly and faults on specific base stations can be viewed every 15 minutes. This means that network congestion or an unavailable base station will be noticed almost immediately. Maintenance engineers are on call around the clock and we have arranged accreditation for network staff to ensure that they have access to Summit venues," said Muthien.

In addition, the network supports Dynamic Half Rate which allows MTN to double the capacity on each cell in times of exceptional traffic volumes. In the hours after the attacks on the World Trade Centre last September, for example, MTN network traffic increased by 20% without subscribers experiencing undue congestion.'"

Posted to the site on 24th June 2002