Base Stations Used to Monitor Traffic Jams

MTN South Africa has developed a traffic monitoring service for major highway interchanges, enabling road users to avoid daily traffic-jams and accidents. The service, called MTN Traffic Cam, is currently available in Gauteng and will be rolled-out nationwide in 2004.

The MTN Traffic Cam works through cameras placed on MTN radio masts at various interchanges, giving motorists live feeds over MMS's. Provided that users have MMS enabled handsets, they will be able to receive live feeds of what traffic activity is at specific intersections.

Farhad Khan, general manager of MTN Business Solutions at MTN South Africa says, "MTN is constantly developing and exploring new technologies, and is passionate about delivering the most innovative and imaginative services to its customers. MTN Traffic Cam is one such service that will alleviate the stress placed on South African motorists on a daily basis, having already doubled consecutively on a month-to-month since April 2003."

MTN Traffic Cam is a world-first that was initially launched in July 2002. It has spread rapidly and is accessed by nearly 2000 users a day. This number is considerable, given the amount of MMS enabled handsets on the market.

The Buccleuch interchange was the first interchange to be covered by MTN Traffic Cam. The Gillooly and Rivonia interchanges were added shortly thereafter. Additionally, MTN has recently introduced another three cameras at the Grayston Drive offramp in Sandton, one of Gauteng's most congested intersections."

Posted to the site on 30th September 2003