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The
Lesotho 5G network is the first in Africa
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The mountainous kingdom of Lesotho in southern
Africa has become an unexpected test venue for high-speed 5G mobile technology
that is set to revolutionize global communication, transport and entertainment.
Two companies in the country's tiny capital
Maseru are now using one of the world's first commercial 5G networks on the
long-awaited 3.5 GHz spectrum. The network in Lesotho, set up by local Vodafone
affiliate Vodacom, delivers speeds of up to 700 megabits per second, allowing
movies to be downloaded in seconds and could in future provide safe technology
for driverless cars.
"It is a bit of a testbed for us,"
Andries Delport, Vodacom's chief technology officer, told AFP on Friday after
the service was launched. "With 5G, there is a lot of hype based on
future use. It is transformative... it allows us to start talking about
driverless cars, and robots and machines in factories. I can tell you, the Lesotho people are
super-proud of this."
Just 530 employees at the head offices of the
Central Bank of Lesotho and the Letseng Diamond Mining Company in Maseru
currently enjoy the 5G speeds, but Vodacom plans to extend the scheme. The Lesotho network, which is the first in
Africa, could mean that customers on the continent could avoid the need for
expensive fibre cabling, instead "leap-frogging" to the new higher
speeds. Other commercial networks have been set up in
Qatar and Saudi Arabia in the race to bring 5G, meaning "Fifth
Generation", to customers.
Lesotho, which is entirely surrounded by South
Africa, has a population of just 2.2 million. It is known as the "Kingdom in the Sky"
as it largely consists of rugged mountains with some villages accessible only
by foot or pony.
Vodacom said it chose Lesotho because the government offered the 3.5 GHz spectrum that has not yet been alloted in South Africa and many other countries.
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