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Vodacom adds Nokia tech to its network, hits speeds of 500Gbps

The importance of being online has become a point worth talking about but there is something else we should be talking about as we march closer to 5G availability for more people – capacity.

As 5G becomes more widely available users start to take advantage of the advancements. A decade ago the idea of streaming live sports to a mobile phone was ridiculous but, as technology has advanced, so has the expectation of what technology can do.

Not only does 5G offer faster speeds, it will likely also increase demand for low-latency services, while also increasing bandwidth demand as the internet of things becomes a more intrinsic part of our lives.

Preparing networks for that increased flow of traffic then is incredibly important and Vodacom South Africa together with Nokia is already making moves.

Using Nokia’s Photonic Service Engine 3 (PSE-3) chipset hardware to deliver a high-capacity transmission, Vodacom was able to establish a 500Gbps link to data centres in Midrand. That’s impressive but not as impressive as the 300Gbps link between Cape Town and Midrand. That’s a distance of 1 600km and, better yet, no electrical regeneration was needed to get the signal from Cape Town to Midrand.

“The optical transmission network allows the transference of data on different light frequencies in an optic fibre cable. The deployment of the Nokia 1830 Photonic Service Switch will assist Vodacom South Africa in maintaining high quality data services across the country, to both address the ongoing surge in data traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. It will also ensure that the optical network is ready for the higher peak network speeds which will result from the expansion of 5G services, amongst others.  The nationwide optical network will connect all major South African cities, large data centres and network hubs,” Vodacom explained in a press release.

Nokia’s tech should help speed things up but it will also bring about power savings which is great news here in South Africa where Eskom can decide at a moment’s notice that loadshedding will be taking place.

“Vodacom continuously seeks to provide a world-class network experience for its customers. Initiatives such as these will ensure that our customers continue to enjoy a high quality network service while also allowing Vodacom to optimise its network resources to support the increase in demand for data connectivity services and for the expansion of our 5G network in future,” technology director at Vodacom South Africa, Beverly Ngwenya, said in a statement.

All in all this is good news for Vodacom and its customers alike as tech like this can pave the way for high-speed connectivity and an improved experience for users while lowering the cost of operations for Vodacom.

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