MTN has issued an apology to customers affected by service disruptions in the last two weeks.
The company states that, to meet the increasing quality and capacity demands on the network, it is significantly re-engineering its network in certain parts of the country to ensure that it is of an acceptable standard and is capable of satisfying their needs of the customers.
“The adjustments were many and they included reviewing how we can optimally utilise the existing spectrum, which entailed re-configuring the current allocation of our spectrum. This exercise is aimed at providing customers with improved coverage and quality of experience,” says Eben Albertyn, chief technology officer at MTN SA.
Further to this review, a technology refresh of parts of the network took place, which included upgrading the technology level of our equipment; this resulted in intermittent service disruptions being experienced in and around metro areas.
Load shedding also exacerbated our disruptions. It must be noted that in the event of a power failure, MTN base station are powered by batteries or generators. The majority of the network sites use batteries for backup.
These batteries have a limited backup time, and recharging them takes time. Furthermore several hundred sites have been vandalised and batteries have been stolen in recent months. Where possible, MTN has been deploying these batteries to all sites to alleviate the impact of power outages. However, MTN has not been able to cover 100% of its sites yet.
“We are working tirelessly to ensure there is minimal impact on services and are planning for a speedy completion. We are aware that the demand will spike over the festive season and we remain confident that these interventions will bolster our capacity to meet expected traffic,” adds Albertyn.
There were a number of MTN customers who migrated from Nashua Mobile who also experienced connectivity problems on November 25. These customers were inadvertently disconnected, but services were restored on the same day.
“MTN apologises to its customers for any inconvenience caused during this time,” concluded Albertyn.
MTN is the worst network ever, I even think Cell C is better, I never have 3g coverage ever.
Now they blaming all types of anomalies for their poor service. Yet other networks remain stable. MTN never ever has 3G connectivity. You have to manually set your phone to 3g on MTN’s network. That’s why I dropped them.
After all these years this is news ?? Common MTM DONT TELL US YOU ARE GOING THE SAME WAY AS ESKOM.?
MTN, spend some of your outrageous profits and super-bonus to your executives and dividends to shareholders on “back-up kit” to maintain the “service as advertised and paid for by your clients” and stop blaming someone else! Load shedding is here to stay care of the ANC government – which includes your BEE shareholders, so you MTN too need to adapt or die!
Telkom Mobile 3G is the best I get 10GB day And 10GB Night And 10GB Free Wifi for R199.00 its fast and reliable hear in Durban My Friend next Door is Lucky if he Gets 2G on Vodacom !